Lecce push for Lagerbielke deal despite Rodgers pulling the plug due to Carter-Vickers blow

Lecce haven’t given up on signing Gus Lagerbielke on loan from Celtic before the transfer window closes.

Outline terms on a move to Serie A have been in place since the start of January but on Monday the player was informed by Brendan Rodgers that his move was off due to worries over another injury to Cameron Carter-Vickers.

Lagerbielke hasn’t been involved in either matchday squad since the end of the winter break and had flights booked for Tuesday to sign off on his move to Italy, one that he had been preparing for since the turn of the year.

From back in October it was made clear to the player that he wasn’t going to be part of Rodgers’ plans despite being a £3m signing in August from Elfsborg.

Despite knowing that Lagerbielke played and scored for Sweden against Moldova, maintained is focus in training at Lennoxtown then stood in against Feyenoord when Nat Phillips, Carter-Vickers and Welsh were unavailable to score the winning goal and bank Celtic a 2.8m euros Champions League win bonus.

Lecce and the player had no reason to think that the move was in any doubt but that altered from the moment Carter-Vickers came off injured against Ross County when Celtic moved the goalposts.

Preparing his farewells at Lennoxtown on Monday, Lagerbielke, a popular figure among team-mates, was called into a meeting with Rodgers and told that his loan move was off as he was promoted to fourth choice with Carter-Vickers out injured. Although the former Spurs defender is only expected to be out for two weeks his latest knock spooked Celtic into calling off their agreement with Lecce.

During Tuesday news leaked out from Lecce that the loan move had been blocked, later it emerged that the injury to Carter-Vickers had been the cause of that decision. However it seems that Lecce are still pushing for the loan to go through.

Celtic and Rodgers have to decide whether to sanction the move or hold on to a player that was expecting to move to a top five league after being told in October that he was no longer wanted in Scotland.