THE English seem to like Kris Commons.

Leicester City are keen on the Celtic forward. Crystal Palace and Bolton Wanderers, too. Chris Sutton is another Anglo admirer, although unlike the other three, the former Celtic striker would prefer Commons to stay in Glasgow rather than retreat back across the border.

Whether that happens or not is down to the player, his representatives and the Celtic hierarchy. Commons, last season's PFA Scotland player of the year, is out of contract in the summer and talks regarding an extension have been ongoing for some time now, as tends to be the case in these situations. Ronny Deila, the Celtic manager, hinted yesterday that a potential sticking point may be the length of the contract on offer, with the club likely to favour a shorter deal for the 31-year-old, and the player, understandably, looking for something to possibly take him through to retirement.

Sutton, part of BT Sport's presenting team at tonight's Europa League tie between Celtic and Salzburg, addressed the situation with weary familiarity. It was the same story last year with Georgios Samaras, and also with Sutton himself back in 2006. In both cases the players involved ended up moving on to clubs in England, Samaras to West Bromwich Albion and Sutton to Birmingham City. The latter hopes the Commons tale does not conclude in similar fashion.

"I am not party to what has happened in the talks but it looks to me like Celtic are going to lose Kris Commons," said Sutton who spent six years at Parkhead. "I think they are making an enormous mistake if they don't get him signed. The longer it goes you can imagine Kris sitting there thinking, 'Well, if they are not going to show willing to me, a player who has given good service, player of the year last year, 32 goals and the most aware forward-thinking player Celtic have' [then he may have to leave].

"It happened in my time, it happened to me, and there is a point where the player wants something back. I hope that Celtic do the right thing and sign him but the longer it goes the more it looks like he will be heading down south and that would be a massive disappointment.

"I don't think they can afford to let him go. Because who do they get to replace him? I know this season he has not really got going through no fault of his own but he has still shown, in the Zagreb game for example, that he has the class to turn a game.

"Now Celtic don't have enough of those players. Whatever you say about [Stefan] Johansen, he is not as good a footballer - he might have better [energy] but Commons can still change a game at the top level.

"Why would you want to let him go? It's common sense, unless his wage demands are off the planet, which I doubt they are. The supporters want to see progression and they want to see Celtic getting stronger to give them hope, and I don't think it sends out a good message if Celtic let Commons virtually walk away, which is what he would be doing.

"From the way it looks Celtic could have offered Kris a contract at any time over the last 12 months. If they have somebody in mind who can come in and do the same job with the same level of quality of performance and who can affect big games, like Kris, fine. But I don't think it will happen."

Helping Celtic through to the last 32 of the Europa League would no doubt help Commons in his contract negotiations. To do so, however, he and his team-mates will likely have to defeat Salzburg in what Sutton described as Celtic's "biggest test of the season". A defeat and possibly even a draw could leave them needing to take something away to Zagreb in their final group game and Sutton does not think Deila or his players will want to take that risk.

"The beauty of this game is that we will see how far Celtic have come, certainly in Europe," added the Englishman. "I think this is their biggest test of the season bar none. Salzburg will come to win the game. They don't know how to play any other way. We can really learn a lot about Celtic from this game.

"Celtic have to win so how will they go about it? I don't think they can go toe-to-toe with Salzburg as the Austrians have players who can hurt them. But they need an attacking intent. I'm interested to see the line up. The manager has real decisions to make."

n BT Sport has live coverage of UEFA Europa League games throughout the group stages and beyond, as well live coverage of four SPFL games before the end of December including Dundee Utd vs Celtic (5th Dec). Visit BT Sport.com for more information