BRENDAN RODGERS shot down the Sky Sports exclusive Christmas Day story that was apparently seeing Brighton agreeing with Celtic an £18million fee for Moussa Dembele.
“I am not sure where it’s come from. Moussa’s been linked with so many clubs since I’ve been here,” Brendan said earlier today.
“There’s been no contact between the clubs and Moussa is very much still a Celtic player. There is no fee, no bid, there have been no talks.
“I can’t say he will stay in January. I live in the real world of football and you can say things that make you look silly.
“Someone might come in with a bid that is an astronomical amount of money for the club and the player and, if the player wants to go, that’s modern football.”
Brendan first heard of the Brighton story from a family member who had their Christmas disturbed by the rumour put out by Sky Sports on Christmas Day.
“I was made aware of the Brighton rumours by some family members asking me if it was true or not.
“It was the first I’d heard of it. At this stage he is still very much a Celtic player.
“When you’ve got good players and talented players… with all due respect, Celtic is a club that at times will lose some of the better players.
“But at this moment in time the squad is still very much intact and we want to add to it over the course of the January window.
“I can never stand here and say someone is definitely going to be here because you could get a ridiculous bid for a player and a situation arises when they’re offered much more wages and they want to go.
“At this moment in time, the spirit of the group is very strong, their very happy and January will take its course.”
NEW CQN PODCAST OUT NOW! CHRISTMAS JUMPERS FOR GOALPOSTS
Paul John Dykes and Kevin Graham are joined by Celtic authors, Stephen Sullivan and Stevie Murray for a special festive episode – Christmas Jumpers for Goal-Posts.
Stephen Sullivan is a former Celtic View reporter who wrote the much-lauded Sean Fallon biography, ‘Iron Man’. He is now the editor of FIFA.com.
Stevie Murray has now written two books on Celtic – ‘Ten Men Won The League’ and ‘Kenny of the Celtic’ – and he is a respected and authoritative voice on the club.
Treat yourself to a signed copy of Jim Craig – Right Back to 67 and you will receive a copy of That Season on Paradise signed by Bertie Auld, just order the Jim Craig book at CQNbookstore.co.uk and we’ll do the rest…
