Pundit Alan Hutton believes Celtic could accept a £3m offer for defender Stephen Welsh following rumours of a move to Udinese, Football Insider report.

The Lowdown: Bid rejected

The Hoops are yet to bolster their defensive ranks during the winter window and are working on making Cameron Carter-Vickers’ loan move permanent.

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However, they have received interest in one of their own defenders in Welsh, described as ‘excellent’ by pundit Paul John Dykes.

Serie A side Udinese have had loan-to-buy and £1.6m offers turned down by Celtic, with the club ‘keen’ to keep hold of the 21-year-old.

The Latest: Hutton’s comments

Hutton, who contributes for BBC Radio 5 Live, was talking to Football Insider regarding Welsh.

He believes that the Hoops could accept an offer of around £3m with a sell-on clause, should one arrive, almost double the £1.6m bid Celtic recently rejected.

“I understand they don’t want to loan him with an option to buy. I think they’d probably much rather an upfront payment.

“It doesn’t surprise me that other teams are looking at him.

“It’s difficult to tell what he’s worth, isn’t it? It’s not like he’s been playing there for years.

“I think if they could probably get £2-3million, with a chance of a sell-on fee, that would be the route they would go down. There’s obviously potential there.

“Going back to the likes of Hickey, we were talking £15million, in the region of that, for someone that they bought a couple of million.

“If they can get £2-3million through the door with a sell-on fee in case he does go and fulfil that potential and go to a higher level, I think that would be ideal for Celtic.”

The Verdict: Going nowhere

Ange Postecoglou revealed on Thursday that Welsh would be going nowhere this month, so that should be the end of the rumours.

He only signed a new contract until 2025 back in April and has been relied on by Postecoglou on 19 occasions this season.

The Hoops have Cater-Vickers, Welsh, Carl Starfelt and the returning Christopher Jullien as senior centre-back options, so letting Welsh go would have been a gamble.

However, thankfully, it doesn’t look as if that will happen, even if they receive a £3m offer which Hutton thinks could tempt Celtic into parting ways.

In other news: Celtic now making move for 'extraordinary' player; want it done in 72 hours.