Kris Ajer hasn’t ruled out staying on at Celtic for the season ahead.
The claim is made in the Daily Record as they speculate over an £8m offer coming in from Newcastle.
Ajer has a year left on his contract and will have a major say in his destiny, if an offer accepted by Celtic doesn’t appeal he has every right to reject it and see out his contract.
Equally, appointing a top manager could encourage the defender to stay on although there are almost always questions about the commitment of players in the final year of their contract. Three years ago, Celtic were in a similar situation with Dedryk Boyata.
Discussing interest from Newcastle, the Daily Record reports:
The St James’ Park side are short on numbers at the back and have Fabian Schar and Federico Fernandez moving in to the final 12 months of their deals on Tyneside.
Bruce has sent Geordie scouts to Glasgow on several occasions this season and reckons they can snap up the highly rated Norway international for around £8m.
Celtic are looking for around double that figure but know they might need to cash in with his contract running down. Ajer is considering his next move – but he hasn’t ever ruled out staying at Celtic Park.
The 23-year-old and his representatives are assessing all of the options and they believe there will be other English Premier League clubs ready to come to the table, as well as sides from Germany and Italy.
As far back as April last year Ajer was linked with a move to AC Milan with little discussion over extending his contract.
Celtic signed the teenager in March 2016 from Norwegian side Start but by the time the move went through Ronny Deila had been replaced by Brendan Rodgers.
After spending the second half of the 2016/17 season on loan at Kilmarnock Ajer made inroads into the Celtic side, in the season just finished he was the first pick central defender.