CELTIC manager Ronny Deila and chief executive Peter Lawwell have held talks about keeping Craig Gordon at Parkhead because of the threat of losing him to a club in England or overseas.
Deila reacted to speculation that Chelsea were interested in the 32-year-old by saying it was highly unlikely that Gordon would settle for being a back-up goalkeeper having recently missed two years of his career due to injury. But Gordon's exceptional form does increase the likelihood of him becoming a target for clubs in the Barclays Premier League, where he previously performed when Sunderland paid £9 million to sign him from Hearts in 2007. Gordon joined Celtic last summer, reportedly on a two-year deal although Lawwell told the AGM the contract was actually for three.
"I think he's a great goalkeeper and he's a man we want to keep at the club," said Deila. "We will do everything to keep him here. I understand why other clubs are looking at him because he's had a fantastic season. Myself and Peter have already talked about this. It's also about what Craig wants and hopefully he wants to stay here and be with Celtic. I want him here for the rest of his career. Hopefully that can happen."
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho expects to lose Petr Cech as back-up to Thibaut Courtois during the summer and is thought to have identified Gordon as a potential replacement. But Deila was confident that Gordon would have no interest in spending more time on the sidelines. "It would be a shame but I don't think he wants to do that. He wants to play football until the end of his career and we want him to stay here.
"It's a rumour and we will see what is in it. There will be clubs interested if he wants to go, but we want to keep him. He's performed great and without him we wouldn't have gone through the Europa League group stages. I haven't seen the other goalies [David Marshall and Allan McGregor] so it's hard for me to say if he is Scotland's number one. But I can say that if he is number three then Scotland has a lot of good goalkeepers."
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