Former Scotland manager Alex McLeish believes that Celtic star Kristoffer Ajer “knows for a fact” that top clubs have been interested in his services, as speculation regarding his future intensifies.
Ajer aware of interest
The 22-year-old defender has been heavily linked with a host of Premier League and European clubs after putting in a string of impressive performances for the Hoops.
Surprisingly, Ajer has rejected several contract offers from Celtic who are keen to see him stay beyond 2022, as his current deal expires at the end of next season.
The Norway international is a highly-rated talent in Scotland and was likened to the Brazilian legend Cafu by the former Hearts winger Neil McCann (via BBC Sport).
With this in mind, McLeish told Football Insider that Ajer will be fully aware with what’s going on as he continues to do what he needs to do on the pitch.
“He’s very consistent and he is a leader. You can see that in him”, he said.
“He can take a lot of confidence from the fact he’s been quoted as maybe moving to one or two of the big clubs in Europe so that gives a player a lot of motivation when you hear these things.
“It’s not so much reading the papers, he knows for a fact these guys were in because he’d be kept up to the mark with his agents and stuff.
“A good, big player, they can’t all play fantastic every week. You’ve seen a couple of the goals recently that he could even have done better. Nobody’s perfect and you’ve just got to learn from it and make sure you get better and better from experience.”
Transfer Tavern take
It’s an interesting time for the versatile central defender, who can also play right-back and in defensive midfield if required.
His 19 appearances at international level at such a young age would have been enough for clubs to sit up and take notice.
Neil Lennon will be fighting tooth and nail to keep hold of one of his key assets going forward, as Celtic look to maintain their dominance in Scottish football and progress in Europe too.
But McLeish is right. Ajer is not silly and will be monitoring the situation carefully once the January transfer window opens its doors. Celtic will be hoping that it doesn’t impact his form as and when he returns from injury.
In other news, Scotland legend describes Celtic star’s strike as “the best I’ve seen”.
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