TOM BOYD today told Virgil van Dijk that playing in the Uefa Champions League will encourage bigger clubs to make a move for him next season.

 

The Dutch defender told a magazine in his homeland he is ready to move away from Scotland now, but Celtic are adamant the defender is not for sale - at least not before the Champions League qualifying games.

Van Dijk is clearly hankering to play in the Barclays Premier League, but Boyd has told the defender that rubbing shoulders with the game's elite players can only put him in a significant shop window.

Everton, Spurs and Sunderland have all been linked with the player, but his agent, Henk Maarten Chin, would not be drawn on whether any formal offers had been tabled for Van Dijk.

"I think the Champions League is a massive carrot for a player like Virgil," said Boyd. "It would be fantastic if Celtic got to the group stages.

"If you want to put yourself in the shop window then the Champions League is the place to do that.

"Virgil was linked with Sunderland recently, but if he wants to go to bigger and better teams then he should stay at Celtic and have a crack at the Champions League.

"Go and perform in the Champions League then the world will be your oyster. If you do that against top-quality teams then you will only enhance your reputation.

"I think Virgil is a fabulous player and he will be destined to move on to bigger and better things than Sunderland."

Meanwhile, Boyd has told Rangers supremo Dave King that the Ibrox side will lag behind Celtic for the foreseeable future.

King had claimed that he could have Rangers back in the Premiership and pushing Celtic for the title in the next two years, but Boyd has dismissed his theory.

"I'll say no," said Boyd, when asked whether or not King's assertions were credible. "I'll leave it at that in my opinion, no. Look at where Celtic are just now and where Rangers are. There is a massive gap and it will take a right good few years to bridge that.

"[If you get into the Champions League]You can then get better players and I don't see that over the other side just now. I don't see how you can attract better players to the Championship unless you are doing what you did previously and that is paying them over the odds.

"That is the only way they will go to play Championship football. It didn't work out for them before and it will need to be a different strategy unless they are buying in lesser quality players. No, my take on it is that it will take a right good few years before they even come close."

And the former Hoops defender - the last Celtic captain to win a Treble with the club - believes the absence of Rangers has not hindered the Parkhead side.

That Rangers failed to win promotion to the top flight after their 6-1 aggregate defeat by Motherwell in the play-off final means there will be no Old Firm league games next season - something Boyd doesn't expect will have registered significantly on Celtic's radar.

"They need the Champions League money at this moment in time. They certainly need competition, which I think they got to a degree from Aberdeen, but more importantly where Celtic are they need to get in to play against the best teams in Europe and keep the challenge of that alive and hopefully then go beyond the group stages.

"That certainly is more of an attraction just now than playing Rangers at this moment in time."

Meanwhile, Deila was vocal last season about his desire to win a domestic Treble, an ambition that was thwarted at the semi-final stage of the William Hill Scottish Cup.

Eventual winners Inverness Caley put Celtic out of the tournament, contentious as it was, and Boyd admitted he is more used to players and managers playing their cards close to their chest when it comes to making their aspirations public.

"I always like managers and players talking about Trebles when they have two in the bag and are sitting in the cup final, but I suppose the press and everyone else want to talk about it beforehand," he said.

"They should be confident because their league form in the second half of the season was excellent. They certainly kicked on from the start and tried to get good unity and team spirit as well as getting the players to play to the best of their ability.

"There is a balance because you don't want it to turn into cockiness. But Ronny is a confident chap and he has great faith in his team and that means he can talk about it and hope that he gets there.

"I think the players can handle the pressure. They never got it this year, but there is always next season. But for now I think forget all about the Treble everything to do with pre-season is geared towards qualifying for the Champions League."

*Tom Boyd was speaking on behalf of the Celtic FC Foundation which has donated £7,000 to the Glasgow Taxis' Outing Fund for sick children. The trip takes places on Wednesday, June 17.