JOZO Simunovic has revealed he has no intention of leaving Celtic in the January transfer window despite ongoing interest from a number of clubs.

The Croat had been all set to sign for Torino on deadline day in August only for the move to the Serie A club to fall through at the final hurdle. Since then the 22 year-old has worked his way into Brendan Rodgers’ plans as he makes a gradual recovery from a knee injury. Simunovic admits he will move on from Scotland at some point but believes he still has to prove himself at Celtic before he can consider leaving.

“Could I move in January? I think, no,” he said. “I know some clubs are still asking for me and I don't have a problem with that but it's not the time for me to be leaving. I still haven't shown everything of me to the Celtic fans. Probably in the future my time will come for leaving, but it's not that time now. It doesn’t matter what Celtic say [if any offers come in] - I want to stay here. That’s my decision.

“And when I look back on what happened in August, I’m happy I’m still here. Now that whole Torino story is finished, I’m here, I'm happy, I feel great. I’m really enjoying it under this gaffer. Everything is fine for me.”

Simunovic has rotated in and out of the Celtic team this season, unable to play too many matches in succession for fear of putting excessive pressure on his knee. But he is confident he is gradually getting back to full strength.

“My fitness is still in a process of building,” he added. “It's a very long recovery. I missed half a season and all the pre-season matches and training sessions. I would like to play more. That's natural for every player but we have to be smart sometimes. That's the right way we are going. I am close to the end of that process and then I will play every week.

“The manager and I speak with each other and we decide [which games to play in]. We decided Aberdeen [last weekend] and then said we would see for Tuesday [the Champions League game away to Borussia Monchengladbach] and we decided after Aberdeen it would be better to stay calm.

“Okay, it was an important game but in my case one game doesn't mean anything. The most important is the period coming after the international break. We have Barcelona and also after that we have a very important game for us, the League Cup final.”