CELTIC chief executive Peter Lawwell has denied Joey Barton's claims that the Parkhead side wanted to snatch him away from Rangers this summer.
The midfielder says in his new book that an agent had contacted him on behalf of Lawwell days before completing an Ibrox move, but he turned them down.
Barton is currently sitting out a three-week club suspension for a training ground spat with teammate Andy Halliday and manager Mark Warburton, and it emerged on Tuesday morning that he is also the subject of a probe into illicit betting.
Read more: Rangers midfielder Joey Barton facing probe into allegations of betting on Celtic to lose
Lawwell denied that the Hoops had attempted to hijack the 34-year-old's move following the claims, suggesting instead that Barton had preferred a move to the other side of the Old Firm divide.
“I think Joey’s been had by a bit of a matchmaker here," he said.
“I remember it well, we had just announced Brendan as our new manager and I was with our Company Secretary in London at the time.
"An agent called me saying that Joey was going to sign for Rangers but he would really prefer to come to Celtic and were we interested in signing him, but it wasn’t something we wanted to pursue.
“These things happen to players sometimes in football, but needless to say we wish Joey well at his new club."
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