Galatasaray defender Martin Linnes has talked up his club’s interest in Stefan Johansen.
After a flurry of speculation last week talk of a deal has cooled off with Celtic looking for close to £3m for the midfielder.
Galatasaray would rather pay half that amount for the midfielder who is in the final year of his contract with Linnes happy to discuss his international team-mate while speaking to the media at their pre-season training camp in Switzerland.
Linnes said: “Stefan Johansen has character as well as being a very good footballer, he is my friend from the national team.
“Galatasaray fans will love it very much if the transfer takes place, he will contribute to the defensive aspects of the team as well as offensively if the transfer takes place, but I do not know what will come and I’m sure the fans will love it if it happens.”
Responding to the speculation, last week Brendan Rodgers said: “If a player clearly doesn’t want to be at a club and had a year to go, the market will tell you that you have to sell that player. There are very few players who will be allowed to run their contract through to a free.
“That doesn’t make any sense but, at the moment, there is nothing new to say. He’s working well and he played well. I always look at players and gauge whether they are happy and want to play for the club or not. I have only known him this last week and a half and he has been excellent.
“He has a smile on his face, enjoying being with the team, is working hard in training and I can see his qualities.”
