Brendan Rodgers used the aftermath of Sunday's 1-0 win over Rangers to re-iterate that he did not break any promises to Moussa Dembele.

The French striker was paraded by Lyon on Saturday after his £20m switch from Celtic just hours before the closure of the transfer window.

Dembele forced the move through after a series of cryptic tweets that seemed to suggest he had been lied to by Rodgers before then being asked to leave the club's penultimate trainining session before the Rangers game.

Rodgers revealed that he invited the player as well as members of his coaching staff into a meeting to affirm that he had not reneged on any promises.

“The whole episode really was disappointing," said the Celtic manager, who had originally stated that Dembele would not be sold when Lyon tabled their opening bid.

"I will say a bit on it then that will be it then. It has obviously been very much one way. I had a very close relationship with Moussa. I enticed him to come here with a plan going forward. He was, of course, desperate for the move.

"We wanted to try and keep him because we didn’t have another option. But then there was a line that overstepped from a behaviour perspective. I have been in this situation enough times to know whether you can pull it back or not. I needed to speak to Mouss, and I had a few other senior members of staff with me, and I just asked him ‘can you tell the me and the guys in the room here if you received promises from me or any member of Celtic?’

"It was very clear and categoric that he said ‘no’. So once he said that that was fine. I said: ‘You can now go if you can get the move’.

"There is a lot of integrity here within our staff and with our team in how we work. I understand the model here at Celtic – it is very much about these talents coming in, you developing them and then moving them on. But there was a lot of stuff that was said that was not so nice and ironically not true.

"But Moussa has got his move, he is back home, he is happy. Deep down, I know he is a good boy. He has done great for us here and I wish him the very best at Lyon.”

And Rodgers has not hinted that Ryan Christie could come to the fore in the absence of another striker.

Leigh Griffiths and Odsonne Edouard will be the two first-choice strikers but Christie, who came on for the latter stages of the game against Rangers, could have a part to play this term.

"The bigger picture is what I always think of – I think of the squad, I think of spirit within the team," said Rodgers. "There are opportunities for young Ryan Christie now. We are down a striker, but I will always protect the mentality of the group. We have got a lot of young players who can come in and come through.

"I am looking forward to that coaching element between now and the end of December – as opposed to talking about transfers.”