Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s appointment as caretaker manager of Manchester United means that Filip Benkovic is almost certain to remain at Celtic until the end of the season.
United have been linked with a January move for Harry Maguire but with a caretaker boss in place the England defender seems certain to stay on at Leicester which rules out the chances of Benkovic being recalled.
Solskjaer is in charge until the end of the season with his brief being to get the best out of the current squad rather than to be spending big in January. In the January 2018 window the only business at Old Trafford was the swap deal involving Alexis Sanchez and Henrikh Mikhitaryan of Arsenal.
Maguire was subjected to a £50m bid from Manchester United following his World Cup exploits but Leicester resisted that allowing them to send Benkovic on loan to Celtic where he quickly became the key player in Brendan Rodgers’ defence.
There is a clause in the loan deal that allows Leicester to recall the 21-year-old in January but that seems unlikely to be activated with both clubs and the player happy with the way the move has worked out.
Leicester paid £13m to sign Benkovic from Dinamo Zagreb in the summer and awarded him a five year contract.