Kristoffer Ajer is set to be rewarded for his fine Scottish Premiership displays with a new contract at Celtic.
At the start of the season, Kristoffer Ajer was hoping to establish himself in Celtic’s first team after spending the second half of last year on loan at Scottish Premiership rivals Kilmarnock.
It is fair to say he has done just that. The 19-year-old centre-back has started 15 league games for the Hoops this season and even started both Europa League Round-of 32 legs with Zenit St Petersburg.
And the Scottish Sun is now reporting that Ajer is set to be rewarded with a new deal. The Norwegian is currently under contract until 2020 but Brendan Rodgers is hopeful of handing him a fresh contract with new terms.
So while many of Celtic’s centre-halves are facing uncertain futures at Parkhead, the opposite could be said of a player brought to Scotland by compatriot Ronny Deila in 2016.
The Mail claimed in January that Celtic will sell Jozo Simunovic if they receive an offer of £7 million, Dedryck Boyata has just one year remaining on his deal with no sign of a renewal, while Erik Sviatchenko (below) is currently on loan at FC Midtjylland after falling out of favour.
A new contract for Ajer, then, would show just how highly Rodgers rates him and suggests that he could be the leader of Celtic’s defence for years to come.
It seems that the Scottish champions will build their backline around the youthful potential of Ajer and Jack Hendry and tying down the former is an obvious nod to the future.
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