James Forrest has knocked back the offer of a four year contract extension at Celtic.

Hoops boss Ronny Deila today revealed that the 24-year-old has told the club he wishes to seek out other options as he sees out the remaining year of his Celtic contract.

The Parkhead club offered Forrest a four-year extension in January but have been told that he will not be committing his long-term future to Celtic. And Deila has insisted that Celtic will now draw a line under any negotiations since the club believe that the contract on offer for the 24-year-old was more than generous.

Forrest was not in the squad for Celtic’s weekend 3-0 win over Inverness and Deila was clearly disappointed at the decision of the player to turn down a new deal.

The Norwegian spoke last summer of Forrest being the type of player who could make the difference for Celtic at Champions League level and he has been at great pains to get the winger up to full physical fitness after recent seasons were repeatedly disrupted by injury.

“We made him a very good offer,” said the Hoops boss. “We offered him a contract and he has turned it down. I am disappointed on a personal level because we want to keep all of our good players at the club.

“But it has been made clear that he does not want to sign it. It was a good deal, a very good deal, that the club offered him and I don’t think that there could be any complaints on his part about it. It was a solid offer from the club.

“He has told us that he wishes to see what his other options are. He wants to know what else there is. It is disappointing but I think that will be it from us. I cannot see that we will go back to him with another improved deal because to my mind it was a very good offer that the club put to him.

“James is a great player and he is a player that we feel can get better. It is disappointing that he does not see his future with Celtic."

And Deila hinted that the winger doesn't appreciate the opportunity that he has to establish himself at Celtic.

Forrest was the PFA Young Player of the Year after impressing on his debut season with the club but he has struggled to make similar impacts in subsequent campaigns.

“You also have to remember that this is a great club and to play for Celtic is a great privilege," said Deila. "He still has another year on his existing deal so we will see what is going to happen now. But it doesn’t help anyone when you have players who don’t want to be here. You want to have players who want to be part of what we are building.”