The off-on-off transfer of Stefan Johansen to Galatasaray looks set to resume next week.
After protracted talks to sign Lucas from Liverpool the deal has collapsed with Galatasaray unable to match the players personal terms and pay a transfer fee.
Liverpool are in no rush to sell the midfielder and weren’t prepared to drop the asking price forcing Galatasaray to drop their interest. With that door closed a move for Johansen is back on the agenda.
The Turkish side seem quite happy to allow their transfer budget to be discussed in the media with a transfer fee of €3m widely quoted for Johansen while the player can expect wages of €2.5m a year.
With Tom Rogic and James Forrest signing up to new contracts it looks increasingly likely that Celtic are expecting Johansen to be on the move.
The Norwegian is out of contract at the end of the season and free to discuss a pre contract agreement with any non-Scottish club from January 1.
Brendan Rodgers has been aware of the interest since taking over at Celtic and has kept a diplomatic line in public about the situation.
During the pre-season trip to Slovenia last month the Celtic boss said: “This is a volatile period for players because there is uncertainty and it’s only when the stability comes and the window shuts down that you get certainty.
“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.
“We shall see what happens. It is speculation but he is a player I’d like to keep for sure.
“The club has to protect itself also. 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.”
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