ANYBODY who has ever visited the capital city of these islands will know full well about London prices.

“How much was a pint in that pub you were in?” “It was a tenner but then that’s London prices.”

“What did your Andy pay for his two bedroom flat?” “It was £450,000 but then that’s London prices for you.”

English football, at least the Premier League and a large chunk of the Championship, operate in that world wherein if you need to know the price then you probably can’t afford it. This is the reason why the last few days of the transfer window would have made some Celtic supporters uncomfortable, if not the actual club as those in the know were hugely confident no player they wanted to keep would leave.

Is Craig Gordon, who was to be Chelsea’s second choice goalkeeper, worth the best part of £4m and £50,000 a week at the age of 34? No he’s not. But the best team in England right now can spend that kind of money on a reserve without even thinking about it, and that’s the only thing that matters.

Would any team really pay close to £40m for a player from Scottish football, Moussa Dembele in this case, because definitely he’s not worth that? But it’s like that lavish larger or the modest apartment in Camden overlooking a car park on the market for a king’s ransom. Whether it is good value or not doesn’t come into it. Someone is prepared and happy to pay that kind of money.

With all the subtlety of Donald Trump judging a wet T-shirt competition, the bigger clubs in England have made it known through various ways that they want Dembele and are prepared to match Celtic’s valuation, which is £30m. A bidding war would automatically add some more millions to the price.

Supporters of other clubs, most notably Rangers, scoff at such figures quoted in relation to the Frenchman. They are kidding themselves because, well, that’s London prices for you.

Which brings us to the next transfer window when all of this will come up again, only in July and August it’s a fair assumption that Celtic will have to deal with some actual offers for Dembele and most likely one or two others.

Brendan Rodgers admitted this week that an unnamed English clubs – probably Arsenal – had enquired about Keiran Tierney in the summer. The notion that no manager is going to in for this remarkable young footballer when the next chance comes about is, quite frankly, ridiculous.

And then there is Scott Sinclair, Stuart Armstrong, Jozo Simunoivc and one or two others. They are all comfortably good enough to play in the Premier League which it has to be said contains a lot of bang-average footballers not good enough for Celtic.

So should Celtic be worried? Not even slightly. They held all the aces this month and won’t be folding any time soon; not when they know for sure that they can hold out for as much folding stuff as there is out there.

Winks have been tipped and promises whispered. Chances are Celtic know exactly who will come for their best players, how much they are prepared to offer and when all of this is going to happen. That’s how it works.

Tierney won’t leave. At least not in the immediate future. He’s not that type of lad. Dembele is in no rush either but Celtic aren’t going to turn down £30m this summer? Of course not and no fan would blame them.

What this means is that the richest club in Scotland will this year get a whole lot richer while Rangers continue to operate at a loss with no real sign of that changing any time soon.

Every so often the subject of Celtic playing in another league crops up. Has nobody noticed that they already do?