Neil Lennon has given Kris Ajer a vote on confidence with 12 days left of the transfer window that has saw regularly linked with a move to AC Milan.
The prospect of a move to Serie A is a serious one for any 22-year-old to take on board but the Norwegian has been one of Celtic’s most consistent performers this season.
Ajer has two years left on his current contract with little suggestion that he is looking to extend his stay in Glasgow which began with a transfer from Start in 2016.
With Chris Jullien left out of the squad that flew to Riga a strong performance from Ajer will be essential for Celtic to progress to the Play Off stage.
Discussing the defender, The Sun reports Lennon saying:
He’s very focused. He will start tomorrow; he’s looking forward to the game. You can’t control speculation. Like I’ve said, as always, there’s been no concrete offers, no confirmation of anything and we don’t want to sell him and he’s in a good place mentally.
I’ve spoken to him on it yesterday and I’m there as a support for him. Sometimes it can be a very distracting situation, which he finds himself in. So he’s getting all the support he can from myself and the backroom team, as well as his team-mates.
There has been mixed messages out of Milan about their transfer budget with Celtic likely to be looking for the best part of £20m for Ajer.
Another aspect of any deal is the scheduling of payments with deals that pay the vast majority up front always looked on more favourably.
