The confusion over the future of Moussa Dembele continued at Firhill last night.
The overnight quotes from Chris Davies suggested for the first time that the striker was looking at moving away from Celtic and seemed to explain the sea change over the last month.
Before Christmas it was assumed that Dembele was happy to develop at Celtic until he was ready to join an elite club that regularly competed in the Champions League.
That deal seemed to suit all parties with Celtic enjoying the services of a young striker determined to work his way to the very top of the game.
Brendan Rodgers had explained the position often enough, he didn’t expect Dembele to stay around for his testimonial but there was no rush to get him out the door or accept the first bid that came along.
Recently the message has become more mixed, it seemed that the former Fulham man was looking for a move with the next week promising to be dramatic.
Speaking to BT Sport before the Thistle match Rodgers said: “Moussa is fine, of course there is a lot of speculation around Moussa and there has been for a little while. He is a young player and that can effect their thinking. In terms of being around the players in training he has been as normal, he’s great.
“I just think that it’s very important in this period, towards the end of January, that the focus is very much on players that we know will definitely be here and be focused on winning games for Celtic. Like I say we’ll see where that goes with Moussa, he’s a great boy, he’s someone that I trust as a player, there’s no doubt about that.
Rodgers added: “There’s a reason why he came here which was to develop and learn, and with his talent there was always going to be a possibility that he would move on
“I’m not naive enough, I’ve been in management now for nearly ten years, I’m not going to stand and say that he is definitely going to be here, but I’d say the same with any player.
“Of course we want them to be here but we’re building a very exciting side here at the club, of course there will be a natural process when some will go and some will stay.”
Unless there is a development over the next 24 hours the Dembele situation is likely to dominate the build up to Saturday’s match with Hibs at Celtic Park.
