Virgil van Dijk's agent, Henk Maarten Chin, last night played down reports linking the Dutch defender with a move to Premiership side Arsenal.

 

Chin distanced the player from the latest round of transfer speculation as Ronny Deila warned that Celtic will not allow the player to go cheaply.

The 23-year-old defender had been linked with a move to Arsene Wenger's side. but Chin refused to be drawn on any reports.

And he insisted that the player's sole focus at this time is on playing football.

"Virgil just wants to play football and talk only of his football at the minute," he said.

Celtic paid £2.6m for the defender last summer when they signed van Dijk on a four-year contract.

The player has attracted much attention since then with Arsenal the latest club to be credited with an interest in signing him.

Hoops boss Ronny Deila has not given up on keeping the player at the club for the remainder of the season as Celtic strive for domestic and Europa League success and this week's draw with Inter Milan is something that the Hoops manager is hopeful could entice him to stay until the end of the campaign."He is going to be expensive but just now he is happy to be here," he said.

The Celtic boss will look to strengthen his own pool of players when the January transfer windows next month but he is equally keen to ensure that his own squad isn't cherry-picked.

"It is important to us to try and keep the team together," he said. "It is as much of a priority to try and keep the squad together.

"I am not surprised that there has been interest in Virgil because he is a very good player who is improving all the time."

Meanwhile, Celtic have also been credited with an interest in Scotland star Ikechi Anya.

The Watford winger has seen his stock rise dramatically in recent months and it is believed that he was on the radar of the Parkhead club before the transfer window closed at the end of August.

The 26-year-old has made a significant mark at international level with Scotland boss Gordon Strachan insisting that he would be more than capable of cutting it with the Scottish champions or in the Premiership.

"There is no doubt about it," Strachan is quoted as saying. "He could go to Celtic or a club in the English Premier League no bother.

"He can play different positions too, which makes him even more valuable."

Celtic would be looking at a fee of around £1.5m for the Scotland star.