Brendan Rodgers has told Chelsea to forget it with their derisory offer for Craig Gordon.
An official bid from the London side has been rejected but that is unlikely to be the end of the matter.
Celtic have a 12 month extension option in Gordon’s contract and as far as Rodgers is concerned that clause has been exercised.
With less than five days to go until the transfer window closes a frenzy of activity and speculation is anticipated.
Speaking about the Chelsea bid Eurosport reported Rodgers saying: “There has been an offer but nothing that we would (make us) even think about moving him. He is a player very much part of what we want to do.
“He has 18 months left on his contract and I want to keep him here to build a team around. We have no interest in selling him.
“When the club spoke to me about it, my message was very simple. He is not a player we want to sell.”
Rodgers added: “I don’t want to be in the mind-set of moving a goalkeeper with four days to go, a goalkeeper we have been building up to become a Champions League goalkeeper. To move him on and try to find a replacement is a very difficult thing to do.
“I would hope the only thing that comes out of it that we can renegotiate with Craig and get him here for a longer period than the 18 months he has left.”
Chelsea are hoping to get £12m from Bournemouth for their second choice keeper, Asmir Begovic, but won’t sanction that deal until they have a replacement in place.
Begavic hasn’t had a sniff of first team action but it seems as if Chelsea think that they can bank the best part of £10m without any reduction in quality to their first team squad!
If Begavic is worth £12m then a £6m bid for Gordon might give Celtic something to think over but as Rodgers says it’s all about bringing in a replacement of equal ability.
Sitting on the sidelines is former Celt Artur Boruc who knows that the arrival of the Chelsea keeper will end his run as first choice at Bournemouth.