WE DON’T NEED JANUARY SALE

Title race? I don’t care if we win by one point

RONNY Deila insists he does not care if Celtic edge the title by a single point — so long as it’s part of a domestic Treble. The Parkhead side find themselves embroiled in a title joust for the first time in three years, with second-placed aberdeen only two points behind going into the new year. expected to romp to four-in-a-row, the champions lost to Dundee United and managed only a goalless home draw with bottom club Ross County last Saturday. Conceding that it would be ‘unthinkable’ to surrender the title, Deila (right) admitted he would settle for limping over the line by the slenderest of margins. ‘if we win the Treble — yes,’ he said. ‘i don’t care if it’s one point or 10 points, as long as we win the Treble. ‘it’s all about trophies. No one asks how many points do you win by, it’s all about trophies. ‘That’s always been the case in history. You never remember who is No 2 or how many points you win by. ‘aberdeen are getting better

Virgil is happy. He is now looking more to the summer than next month

ATRANSFER window, like a New Year, is a time of hope. For Ronny Deila, the most ardent wish is that he can keep the most effective Celtic players at his disposal. The Parkhead coach has been linked with moves for Dundee United duo Nadir Ciftci and Stuart Armstrong and Tranmere’s Max Power. Yet he is clear on his first priority.

‘Our main goal is to keep our best players,’ he said yesterday. ‘We will talk about new players on February 1.’

Speaking after Virgil van Dijk’s agent suggested interest in his client is intensifying, the Norwegian reiterates his claim that Celtic don’t have to sell in the January window.

Everton are reported to have made a fresh enquiry for the 23- year- old, while fellow Premiership clubs West Brom, Arsenal, Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur are also thought to be interested.

But Deila batted away transfer speculation, insisting: ‘Nobody is going to leave this club who we want to stay. That is a good thing because we don’t need to sell and we don’t want to sell.

‘Finding a replacement now is much harder than in the summer, when it’s much easier. You also have a period to play them into the team.

‘But in the January window, it is important to keep the players you want to keep.’

The reality at Celtic, as elsewhere, is that every player has his price. If Sunderland or Everton come close to making a £10million offer for van Dijk — signed from FC Groningen for £2m — Deila’s conviction and confidence may yet prove misplaced.

‘You never know in football,’ he added. ‘You are talking a lot of very high numbers. But I’m quite sure we will keep all the players we want to keep.

‘That’s what Peter (Lawwell) wants, that’s what the board, me and the whole club want. That is why I cannot see anything happening.’

Van Dijk was unhappy when Celtic refused to sell him on transfer deadline day last August. Left out of the league game in Dundee, the defender came round and has conducted himself professionally in another impressive season.

Despite the claims by his agent, Henk Martin Chin, that a bid from a ‘beautiful’ English club would be hard to turn down, however, Deila believes the Dutchman has now learned to bide his time.

‘I was not that sure when I came here, but now I am 100-per-cent sure Virgil will be all right with that,’ Deila maintained. ‘ He is more settled, training well, playing well and happy.

‘On and off the pitch, he is happy and that is good. He sees the whole picture ahead of him.

‘You can’t imagine how it is when you are put into this situation. Now that he has been there one time, he understands he can’t do anything about it. He has to work hard to get his wishes.

‘Here, he also knows there will be big games and he can fight for a lot of trophies. He is looking more to the summer now than January.’

To Celtic supporters, this kind of talk is welcome. The practice of selling their best players may be a necessary process in a f i nancially- pushed Scottish landscape.

Yet, to see it happen every year is a demoralising process. It raises questions over why a football club exists in the first place.

Deila is having a hard enough time delivering progress and improvement with the players he has without selling his best defender in January.

‘If you lose players all the time, it is so hard to get back up because you can’t buy at the same amount of money we sell for — because we don’t have those salaries to pay,’ he conceded.

‘So that makes it very hard to replace them. I hope and I believe Virgil will stay here half a season and maybe more.

‘But we want to keep him and we will keep him now for this window.’

There is interest in other Celtic players. Anthony Stokes has attracted attention from Cardiff and other English Championship clubs.

And as Sportsmail has reported, Kris Commons is keen to link up with former manager Neil Lennon at Bolton.

Despite using last season’s Player of the Year sparingly, Deila has consistently maintained he wants his playmaker to stay.

Celtic will seek the £330,000 they paid Derby for Commons — with interest — and have shown a marked reluctance to talk figures with Bolton so far.

Asked if Commons can still salvage some form of future at Parkhead, the manager is emphatic.

‘Yes, he can,’ Deila answered. ‘ We want to keep the best players. This is a situation concerning money, length of contract and other things as well.

‘But Kris has a contract until the end of the season and we want to keep the players who have quality.’

If that means losing Commons for nothing in the summer, so be it. For the first time in some years, Celtic are looking anxiously over their shoulders at Christmas. A defeat to Dundee United was followed by a dismal scoreless home draw with bottom club Ross County.

‘My Christmas could have been better,’ added Deila. ‘Everything was perfect — except the Ross County result. I was driving to Manchester with my kids after the game and sitting in the car for three hours after a 0-0 draw, trying to be polite, was not easy.’

He tried, where possible, to see the positives. Through a thick, freezing motorway fog, it wasn’t easy, yet Deila — despite some ropey results — insisted that opponents now ‘fear’ Celtic more.

‘Our control of the games is much better,’ he said. ‘In the past, I have been asked if teams don’t fear us any more because they attacked us. Now they don’t attack us and we have to break down defences. So I think they fear us much more.’