Celtic had a last minute £1.25m bid for the Israeli midfielder Maor Melikson turned down on deadline day.

The 27-year-old midfielder has been a long-term target of Neil Lennon and the club made their move for the Wisla Krakow man on Friday.

However, the Polish club rejected Celtic's offer and the Scottish Premier League champions refused to increase their bid ensuring the Melikson remain in Krakow.

That angered the player, who then pulled out of Wisla's weekend game with a mystery injury. His agent, Dudu Dahan, admitted Melikson was unhappy that the move to Celtic failed to materialise.

"There's no point talking about what happened with Celtic because the transfer window is now closed," said Dahan. "Wisla wanted too much money for him. I'm not going to talk about amounts but, I can assure you, the bid from Celtic was well over £1m.

"Maor was disappointed with what happened, but he has to accept the decision of the club. He is a professional and if you sign a contract with a club you have to honour it.

"He must be a man and not act like a rabbit or a chicken.Since he has a contract with Wisla, he will play with them 100%. The truth is he didn't play at the weekend because of a back injury, not for any other reason.

"Wisla have financial problems which make it strange they didn't accept the offer from Celtic. So now we look for another club."

Melikson – an international team mate of Biram Kayal – will now have to hope Celtic rekindle their interest in him when the January transfer window opens.