Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that the club have rejected a bid from Chelsea for goalkeeper Craig Gordon.
The Premier League leaders are in the market for a back-up shot-stopper to Thibaut Courtois amid speculation linking current number two Asmir Begovic with a move away from Stamford Bridge before Tuesday's transfer deadline.
However, they have been unsuccessful in an attempt to lure the 34-year-old to London, and Rodgers urged the Scotland international not to "waste away his career" by becoming second choice.
"He is a player that, with all due respect, when myself and my staff came in here he was a far cry away from what he is now as a goalkeeper. He has gone away and worked on how we want him to play and has got himself into the team and has been absolutely brilliant, first class. Chelsea have an interest in him but for any interest to be activated there has to be a valuation of the player that has to be met," he is quoted as saying by the Daily Record.
"We don't want to sell him of course but if there's any way that would make Celtic think then there has to be an offer that would allow us to do that as a club. And what came in was nowhere near that level. There's nothing we have got from Chelsea that would make us think in any way we would want to lose a goalkeeper. He is a goalkeeper I really want to keep here. I have enjoyed seeing his progress and development.
"He is a goalkeeper who, whenever I studied the games here in the past, when the ball went back to Craig the crowd were nervous and the players were nervous and he was probably nervous. If you look at him now his game because of our style has elevated him to one of the best clubs in Europe wanting to take him down there as a number two.
"I have had a few conversations with him and he is clear where we are at. I understand the lure of it and I also understand what it would mean for Craig to go there as a number two for the next two years and waste away his career in not playing games."
Gordon has made 18 Premiership starts for Celtic this season, helping them to build a 22-point gap at the top of the table.
Barney Corkhill
