RONNY Deila remained adamant last night that Kris Commons would not be leaving Celtic in the January transfer window, despite the 31-year-old throwing his boots to the away support at New Douglas Park yesterday in apparent recognition of his last match for the club.
Despite months of negotiations between the reigning SPFL champions and last year's Scottish player of the year, the long-term future of Commons remains unresolved. There has been increasing speciulation that when his contract expires in the summer, if not before, he will join Neil Lennon at Bolton Wanderers who take on Liverpool in the FA Cup on Saturday.
Celtic have been busily pursuing other attacking players. Gary Mackay- Steven, of Dundee United, will join in the summer at the latest, while the club have also been pursuing Scotland international and former Celtic player Shaun Maloney of Wigan and Tal Ben Haim, a 25-year-old Israeli winger from Maccabi Tel Aviv. Deila, however, insisted that Commons was going nowhere.
"He will not go," said the Norwegian. "We are going to keep all the players we have for the season, so he needs to get new boots.
"Even if he says he is not signing a new contract, he is going to stay anyway. It is not easy to replace Kris Commons. This will not be taken out of my hands. This is a decision we will take together. I know he wants to stay, and this is all negotiation about what the player wants and what the club want. It is just a matter if we can get agreement. I haven't spoken with Bolton and we haven't heard anything from them."
Deila denied the club were back in for Maloney following the collapse of his proposed move to Leicester, but admitted Ben Haim was on his radar.
"He is one of the many names we have been talking about," said Deila. "But it is a long way from there to signing him. We are looking for different positions and we will see what is happening."
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