Brendan Rodgers fears for Moussa Dembele form as transfer talk whips up

The Frenchman has been linked with a flurry of clubs every window since he joined the club in the summer of 2016 with Brighton and Everton the latest potential suitors to emerge.

Rodgers has revealed that no bids during that time have landed for Dembele, who still has another two-and-a-half years to run on his current contract.

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And the Celtic manager has expressed concern the striker, who has been tipped to be worth over £25m, could be negatively affected by chat over his future.

“There’s been nothing,” said Rodgers. “My mind is that he’s a Celtic player and we have not had one bid.

“I don’t want to keep going on about it because I think it can affect players, especially young players.

“There has been a lot of noise around Moussa for 18 months now, but let’s be clear, we’ve not had one bid.

“He’s been linked with about 16 clubs, but the bottom line is you have to play football. Always be ready to play and then, if a move comes, it comes.

“I don’t want to go into speaking about speculation because it has been non-stop and I think it could hinder development of a player, not just Moussa.

“Obviously, there’s been enquiries around him, but not one bid. Moussa is at a stage in his career where he needs to keep proving himself that he can play for Celtic.

“The whatever comes from that will come.”

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The Northern Irishman added: “It can be very unhelpful for a young player.

“If you are an experienced player, you get used to it. But if you’ve been linked with so many clubs over a period of time, big clubs, less clubs, foreign clubs, British clubs, then it surely can be unsettling.

“It’s not something that ends up being good for a player.”

During last year’s trip to Dubai, Rodgers expressed his belief that Celtic could bypass selling to bottom-half Premier League clubs in England and do deals with the big hitters. The example being Virgil van Dijk who had to go to Southampton before becoming the richest defensive transfer in the world by switching to Liverpool.

The Celtic manager is still of the belief Dembele is able to make that jump, but stressed it is dependant on who comes in for the striker rather than anything the Frenchman does on the park.

He said: “Absolutely but it’s also about the other team and they have to want him.

“Someone looked at Virgil Van Dijk and thought he wasn’t at the level for Liverpool and he had to go elsewhere and then made the step.

“Wanyama went to Southampton and made the jump, Ki went to Swansea. But I don’t agree that always has to be the step. If the player comes out at the right time then he can go to that level.”

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Rodgers also moved to dismiss claims of disrespect levelled at his young striker in the wake of last months’ 0-0 draw with Rangers. Dembele was withdrawn from play after a below-par showing but left the field at a slow pace before reportedly not staying in the dugout to watch the remainder of the match.

"I haven’t seen anything as regards to the Rangers game, I was away the game,” said Rodgers. “But Moussa is not that type. It’s one of the beauties of him. He’s a really good boy and super professional.

“He does walk slow. The boys will tell you. He virtually breaks into a walk! He times his run perfectly for team meetings. We are all waiting to fine him for being late! He has this incredible knack. We don’t know if he hides at the back and just steps in.

“But, seriously, Moussa is a very relaxed boy. He’s laid back, but he’s professional. I don’t know what the noise was, but that’s not the type of group I have.”