Ronny Deila has confirmed talks are underway with 24-year-old Belgian defender Dedryck Boyata.

The central defender met with Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell, Deila and assistant manager John Collins in Manchester on Thursday afternoon as the club seek to strengthen their squad.

The Manchester City defender still has one year left on his contract with the Premiership club, but has already stated he

wishes to leave at the end of the season after making only six first-team appearances as he struggled to get a start ahead of Vincent Kompany, Martin Demichelis and Eliaquim Mangala.

A loan deal would suit both Celtic and the player. Although Deila was coy on how the talks went, with Jason Denayer heading back to Manchester City following what has been a successful 12-month loan deal, there is a need for at least one central defender to come into the club.

"We will see," said Deila. "We are talking with a lot of players now and

going around trying to strengthen our squad so he is one of them. We will see if we can make it or not.

"I try to keep those conversations until anything is ready. We are talking to a lot of players and we are to do a real job trying to bring in quality players to strengthen us for next season."

Ideally, Deila would look to bring players in as quickly as possible in order that Celtic have the best possible chance of progress when the Uefa Champions League qualifiers gets underway in July. However, he has admitted that while that is the aim, it is not always as straightforward as that.

"That is what you want to do, but it is hard," he said. "We want to start up again in late June having added to the squad.

"We hope to bring players as early as possible, but we have to keep talking to players and see where it goes. We want to have more than two central defenders."

And Deila has insisted that he is not planning on Champions League football without Virgil van Dijk. "He should be there. He has not told me anything other than that and we expect that he will still be here."

Celtic were held to a 0-0 draw last night in Perth, although Deila was unperturbed about the performance.

The Hoops boss made six changes to his team and was happy to get through with a point.

Meanwhile, with only a trip to Aberdeen remaining next week, Tommy Wright's Saints moved into fourth place, one point ahead of Dundee United, who have two games left.

Fourth place will take a Europa League spot if Inverness beat Falkirk in the William Hill Scottish Cup final at Hampden.

The Northern Irishman admitted his heart was in his mouth when Forrest rounded Mannus but insisted his side deserved a point.

He said: "I couldn't believe it. You maybe blame the pitch, but it was one of those moments.But I think it would have been unjust if we had lost that.

"I am happy with the points and performance."