Kris Ajer has confirmed that he wants to leave Celtic this summer.
The 23-year-old has been Celtic’s most consistent defender over the last two seasons- stepping forward to score the decisive penalty in the Scottish Cup Final victory over Hearts in December.
Ajer joined Celtic in March 2016 as a central midfielder, Brendan Rodgers converted him to a centre-half and after half a season on loan at Kilmarnock he returned to make inroads into the Celtic first team.
Norwich and Newcastle have been linked with the Norwegian this week but after speculation about a move to AC Milan a year ago he is likely to be looking for a better option than the bottom half of the EPL.
Discussing his future, The Sun reports Ajer saying:
With one year left of my contract, that would be the best solution for me and my club. Something is going to happen this summer. There are many rumours, and right now there are only rumours. I have one year left on my contract and I’m sticking to it.
Ajer’s departure will leave Celtic short on numbers in central defence with the first competitive match of next season scheduled for July 20/21.
With Chris Jullien recovering from knee surgery and uncertainty over Jack Hendry’s future Celtic could be starting pre-season friendlies with Stephen Welsh and Nir Bitton as the only players available for central defence.
Since the season ended three weeks ago Shane Duffy, Jonjoe Kenny and Diego Laxalt have returned to their parent clubs.
