Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has refused to back down from reports of interest in Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney.
Arsenal have turned down the option of a 12-month extension in Tierney's contract and will allow the Scotland defender to leave for free tRANSFER next summer unless a January move can be agreed in the coming weeks.
With Tierney set to be available for free, Celtic are expected to pursue a reunion with their academy graduate, although they will have to fend off interest from a number of Premier League sides to get a deal done.
Rodgers, who made 127 appearances for Tierney during his time at Celtic en route to two league titles, admitted his admiration for the 27-year-old but refused to discuss a formal move.
“Kieran is someone I know very well, but there will be a lot of players linked with coming to Celtic,” he said.
“We will never talk about a player, especially a young player who is at another club. But we have work to do, we know that. We want to improve the squad further in a number of key areas.
“But until that happens, the players we have here have been working really well and we'll just keep working with them and see what happens in January.”
Celtic have an advantage over them Premier League suitors as they can speak directly to Tierney as early as January with a view to a free transfer in the summer expected to be their preferred route.
However, if they choose to pursue signing in January, they will have to negotiate directly with Arsenal.