Celtic boss Rodgers warns ‘injury prone’ Griffiths that he needs to shape up
Celtic are determined to resist any attempts by Chelsea to sign either Moussa Dembele or Craig Gordon before the transfer window closes tonight.
The English Premier League leaders have been linked with a dramatic late move for French striker Dembele who has scored 20 goals for Celtic this season. The Scottish champions, however, remain confident they will hold on to the highly-regarded 20-year-old and have placed a valuation in the region of £40 million on him.
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers insists the club are “in total control” of the future of all of their players ahead of tonight’s transfer deadline and has also issued a personal assurance that gordon will not be sold.
Chelsea are understood to have made a second approach for the Scotland goalkeeper after having an initial offer for him rejected at the end of last week.
Despite the continuing interest in Gordon, however, Rodgers is adamant the 34-year-old will remain a Celtic player as the Scottish champions prepare for their next Premiership fixture at home to Aberdeen tomorrow
night. He also expects Celtic to successfully conclude negotiations with Gordon over a new longer-term contract soon. Rodgers dismissed any suggestion that the situation could change should Chelsea meet Celtic’s valuation of the former Hearts and Sunderland keeper.
“It’s all hypothetical and I don’t worry about things like that,” said Rodgers. “Craig will be in goal on Wednesday night, I guarantee you. So write that. That’s all you need to write. He will be in goal. End of story. There’s two parts to it. You can only speak to someone if another club meets a valuation of what a player is maybe worth. You don’t willy-nilly let a player go and talk to them. It doesn’t work like that. It’s a little bit more complex than that. But the stance is the same, we don’t want to lose him.
“For me it’s always been clear. Craig will be here, he will be in goal on Wednesday night and we want to get him signed up on a new deal, simple as that.
“[Chelsea manager] Antonio Conte will be in a similar position, he knows he’s got a goalkeeper [Asmir Begovic] who wants to go out and play, he’s been the No 2, he’s been the support keeper for a few years now but he wants to play.
“My job at Celtic is I’ve been brought in to lead the club, look after the football side, help manage the club. So my job is to protect the club and to build the best team I possibly can here and that means keeping Craig Gordon.
“That’s the plan, really. A new contract for him is one we want to get done sooner rather than later and I think it will be. We want Craig to stay here, we have huge respect for the player.
“It’s not where we expect to not allow him to speak to Chelsea but not have a plan
for him. There is a plan for every player and his plan is to be here for me as long as I’m here. So we’ll want to offer him that respect and I know the club are in negotiation with his agent. I would suspect that if it wasn’t done in the next few days then it’ll be done fairly soon.”
Celtic left-back Kieran Tierney, right, has also been linked with a move to the English Premier League but Rodgers is equally firm on the 19-yearold remaining at the club.
“The kid loves it here,” he said. “He’s top class but he’s still 19, developing very well. He has so many good qualities. He’s a great young boy who’s living the dream. So there’s no rush for Kieran. He is playing in a team that suits his qualities and style. “He’s a supporter who’s on the pitch and you see that in every performance. When there’s speculation around your players, it means something is going okay. It’s been there for Moussa, for kieran–it will probably be for Dedryck Boyata next. So it’s all good. My job is to control the background noise – don’t worry so much. People have to earn money, agents have to get stories out. But for me there’s no drama. We’re in total control.”
While Rodgers keeps his first-team squad intact this month, he has experienced frustration in terms of adding new faces, with Eboue Kouassi likely to be the only January recruit.
“I don’t think we’ll get in what we wanted to get in,” admitted Rodgers. “But we’ve got a great squad of players here.
“I wanted to strengthen in January. I want to improve the team but only when the right players become available and I just don’t think it’s going to be. We’ve made one fantastic signing in Eboue. We wanted a couple more but it’s not going to happen. I don’t waste my time worrying about it. We’ll get it done in the summer.”
Rodgers, meanwhile, has all but ruled out a return to Hibs for Kris Commons after his recent loan spell at Easter Road, but revealed that Nadir Ciftci could make a move before tonight’s deadline.
“I think Kris will stay,” he said. “Unless there is any big change then he’ll stay. I don’t see anything happening so I’m pretty sure Kris will be here until the end of the season. For Nadir, there is a possibility he could get a move abroad. So we’ll see.”