Scottish Premiership champions Celtic reportedly wanted to re-sign Jason Denayer from Manchester City – but Ligue 1 side Lyon are keen too.
Celtic look to have missed their chance to bring Jason Denayer back to Parkhead.
The Scottish Sun claimed this month that the Scottish Premiership champions were leading the race to sign the defender on another loan from Manchester City. Denayer spent the 2014/15 season at Celtic too and shone, winning the SPFA Young Player of the Year award.
But Lyon have come out of nowhere and seem to have a deal for Denayer all but tied up. According to the Daily Record (live blog, 10.39am), the 23-year-old is set to undergo a medical with the Ligue 1 side.
Then again, maybe this is not all bad news. Could missing out on Denayer actually help Celtic to keep the man he was expected to replace?
After all, the Scottish Sun claimed that Dedryck Boyata was Lyon’s primary centre-back target recently. Despite the 28-year-old’s obvious desire to leave, Celtic are refusing to sell and their hopes of keeping Boyata could soon be boosted with Lyon surely set to remove themselves from contention.
Boyata, like Denayer, started his professional career at Manchester City and has represented Belgium at international level.
The former also has just a year left on his contract but it seem that Celtic haven’t given up hope yet of tying him down to a longer deal.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
