Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has opened talks with Mikael Lustig as the Parkhead side look to offer the defender a new deal.

The Swedish defender is out of contract this summer but would be eligible to open talks with other parties in January.

However, Rodgers has insisted that Lustig is a player whom he would ideally like to keep at the club.

Lustig himself has intimated that he would be keen to prolong his stay at the club after spending five years at Celtic. The Swedish internationalist, currently toiling with an injury ahead of today’s visit of Motherwell, signed from Rosenborg in January 2012 and it looks as though there will be talks arranged to lengthen that deal.

"Mikael is someone I definitely want to keep at the club,” said Rodgers.

"I spoke to him on Thursday about that.

"He is a player I've been really impressed with since I've been here.

"He's been consistently available, he's played a lot of games and has great maturity.

"Mikael is a wonderful guy for the team and is an international player.”

Lustig had spoken recently about his surprise that no-one at the club had approached him over the offer of a new deal, but that seems certain now to be corrected.

"He's 29 and is at the peak of his career. For me, he's been outstanding,” said Rodgers.

"Mikael is the type of player I want to have here to help create and build something.

"I'm sure him and his representatives will speak to the club and hopefully organise that.”

Meanwhile, Rodgers has insisted that Celtic are fully focussed as they gear up for what promises to be an intense week.

The Hoops play Motherwell this afternoon before squaring up to Borussia Monchengladbach on Wednesday night in the UEFA Champions League and then Rangers at Hampden in the semi-final of the Betfred League Cup.

“We have had a pretty full-on week this week preparing for the game at the weekend,” said Rodgers, who will assess Nir Bitton and Lustig this morning. “With Celtic, every game is a big game and we are in competitions we want to do well in.

“For me, it’s just making sure we go into next game revved up to work as hard as the previous games. We’ll focus on Motherwell and then look at Borussia. You can’t cast ahead too far.

“In the Dundee game we weren’t as fresh but that made the result even more impressive. Our opponents in the Champions League all lost that weekend and we went to a tough place not at our best and won.”