BLACKBURN Rovers will keep tabs on out-of-contract Celtic player Charlie Mulgrew in the coming weeks with a view to signing him in the summer.

Mulgrew was linked with a move to English Championship club Blackburn, who are now managed by former Celtic and Scotland midfielder Paul Lambert, during the January transfer window.

The 29-year-old has been told by Ronny Deila that he has to prove he has overcome the injury problems which have dogged him during the last couple of campaigns before he is handed a new deal.

But Tommy Johnson, the ex-Celtic striker who is head of recruitment at Ewood Park club, has confirmed he will continue with spying missions north of the border for the remainder of the 2015/16 campaign.

“I have been coming up watching games all season, not just Celtic,” said Johnson as he looked ahead to the quarter-final of the William Hill Scottish Cup between Celtic and Morton at Parkhead on Sunday.

“I will sit down with the gaffer and we will discuss players for the summer. Probably from now until the end of the season we will be going around a lot of clubs watching games.

“I know he (Mulgrew) is out of contract like a lot of other players. I don’t know what his situation is. There are a lot of players out of contract. We just sit down and go through them.

"If they fit our remit, our wage structure, if their personality fits into the club and, ultimately, if the gaffer wants them then we will see what happens in the summer.”

Johnson also predicted that Leigh Griffiths will be the subject of a bid from England in the summer.

Griffiths pledged his future to the Glasgow club until 2021 when he signed a five year extension earlier this season.

But Johnson, who also played for Derby County, Aston Villa and Everton, feels his goalscoring exploits will have attracted attention down south.

“If he keeps banging in the goals for Celtic someone is going to take a punt on him,” he said.

“If you are challenging Henrik Larsson’s and Brian McClair’s record (of 35 league goals for Celtic) you must be doing something right.

"Putting the ball in the net is the hardest thing. It doesn’t matter where you are. If he does it then well done to him, fair play to him, it is a hard knack.”

Tommy Johnson was speaking at a William Hill media event. William Hill is the proud sponsor of the Scottish Cup.