Virgil Van Dijk's future is bound to dominate the back pages over the coming months.

The only person who can answer the question of whether or not he feels that he can be a better player by staying at Celtic and featuring in the group stages of the Uefa Champions League is the player himself.

It is all very well saying that there are no bids welcome for the defender, but if and when a club comes in with a concrete offer then you just don't know for sure what can happen.

If the player himself is of a mind that he is desperate to go then it becomes difficult to keep him.

The amount of money that can be put in front of the player himself is something that can be very hard to turn away from when it is actually there.

And while you can make the argument about going to a bigger club - there were a lot of similar comments when Victor Wanyama went to Southampton - they could be playing European football next season.

The main thing, and which we have all long since accepted is that Celtic, for all their might and pulling power, cannot live with the finances that any team in the Premiership can offer Van Dijk.

And that is where the player himself will come into the equation.

He may feel that he will wait and see if the club can get into the group stages of the Champions League before making a decision, but although such a feat would strengthen Celtic's appeal, it doesn't guarantee that he will definitely look to stay.

So much will depend on what his own point of view is and whether or not he feels that he wants to stay at Celtic for another season.

And if Ronny Deila is then left without both vVan Dijk and Jason Denayer it becomes very tough to replace both of them ahead of such massive games in July and August.

Certainly, as we have seen this week, the Champions League is a special place to play football.

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