Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia are reported to be preparing an offer for Ryan Christie.
The midfielder is out of contract in January with no indications that he will agree to extend the contract that he signed in November 2018.
Christie has only featured in one of Celtic’s pre-season matches with a summer exit expected as Ange Postecoglou puts his own mark on the club.
The Sun reports:
Reports in Saudi Arabia have revealed the mega-rich Riyadh club have made signing the Hoops man their priority after he was personally targeted by new manager – former Sporting Lisbon and Monaco boss Leonardo Jardim.
The Portuguese coach took over the club last month and wants to bring in reinforcements to the club, who won a record 17th Saudi Professional League title last season.
Al-Hilal are poised to lose 34-year-old, ex-Juventus playmaker Sebastian Giovinco after two years in Saudi because he wants to return home to Italy.
And they want to bring another foreigner into the club by attempting an audacious move to sign Christie, with the move being approved by their president Fahd bin Nafel.
He would be the seventh foreigner at the club – the maximum allowed by the Saudi FA – and would join Colombian midfielder Gustavo Cuellar, Argentinian ace Luciano Vietto, Mali international striker Moussa Marega, midfielders Bafetimbi Gomis from France and Andre Carrillo from Peru and South Korean stopper Jang Hyun-soo.
Carrilo remains their record transfer fee when they splashed out £8.5 million to land him from Benfica two years ago.
The transfer fee would not be an issue for Al-Hilal, who are regarded as one of the richest clubs in the world because they are bankrolled by wealthy Saudi businessmen.
Like most of his team-mates the last 12 months has been one to forget for the former Inverness Caley Thistle man.
His disappointments at club level carried over into international football with his European Championship involvement consisting of 45 minutes against the Czech Republic before being substituted at half-time.
It has been assumed that England would be Christie’s next destination but the money on offer from Al-Hilal could be persuasive even though it would put a question mark on his international career.