According to The Scottish Sun, Celtic rejected a late enquiry from Premier League side Crystal Palace over a possible deal to sign Moussa Dembele on deadline day.
The Scottish champions had already completed three signings heading into the final day of business, having completed earlier January move for Marvin Compper, Lewis Morgan and Charly Musonda, but still found room to bring in two more players.
Celtic moved in to complete a late snap up deal for Dundee duo Scott Bain and Jack Hendry, bring Brendan Rodgers’ January recruitment’s to five – and they also had to reject late interest in one of the club star players.
It’s claimed according to the report that the Eagles didn’t table a concrete bid for Dembele, merely making enquiry whether a deal was possible, but with fan-favourite Leigh Griffiths out injured, Celtic shut that conversation with the Premier League giants down quickly.
Palace, however, did end up signing FC Midtjylland hitman Alexander Sorloth on deadline day after missing out on new West Ham United signing Jordan Huguil, with the Norway man coming at a fraction of the price of any Dembele deal.
That means that Dembele will be staying with Celtic until the summer, despite rumours throughout January that he was ready to face the exit door at the Parkhead.
We may well have to face another transfer saga period over Dembele’s future in the summer, but for now, he’s ours and the club will be delighted to have kept hold of the striker, who has now scored 42 goals in 73 games for club since his 2016 move from Fulham.