Adamant Brendan insists Boyata will not be sold just yet
BRENDAN Rodgers will not sanction the sale of Dedryck Boyata to Fulham in the current transfer window as he seeks to guide Celtic through the UEFA Champions League qualifiers.
Having lost Patrick Roberts, Erik Sviatchenko and Stuart Armstrong, Celtic have brought in Odsonne Edouard and signed back-up goalkeeper Scott Bain on a permanent deal.
And given the lack of numbers coming in the door, Rodgers is reluctant to let another one out of it regardless of what that might mean in financial terms.
For Rodgers, losing a first-choice defender at this juncture of the season would leave Celtic vulnerable as they seek to make it back into the group stages of the Champions League, a prize that comes with an estimated bounty of £30m.
And with the English transfer market closing at 5pm tomorrow evening, Rodgers did not feel confident that he would be in a position to replace Boyata had the defender made the switch to the Premier League.
“You get £10million for Dedryck, as an example, but where do you then go and get another centre-half off that?” said Rodgers. “One who would help you go get through this Champions League qualifying campaign and for the rest of the season.
“It has to make sense in every way and at this moment in time it doesn’t.
“For Dedryck, of course, he is in his last year so in six months’ time he can do a pre-contract with someone if he wants to move.
“My focus is on keeping the squad as strong as we possibly can at this moment. We are down players.
“It didn’t surprise me that there was interest in him, especially with his last 18 months and then his World Cup, but it shows you that he’s a good player who is rated highly but I will be really happy to keep him here.”
There was a feeling Fulham were prepared to test Celtic’s resolve by increasing what was believed to be an initial £9m offer up to £12m, but Rodgers remains steadfast that allowing the player to leave the club without being able to replace him isn’t an option.
“It would have to be with a player to come in,” he stressed. “You just couldn’t possibly do that. You couldn’t move on one of your best players like that and not have a replacement.
“There are players in the background, but being so close to Thursday now, it would be very, very difficult to do that. It’s certainly not something I would be advocating.”