CELTIC yesterday granted Moussa Dembele and his representatives permission to speak to Lyon, the French club who have contacted them about the striker, following talks at Parkhead.

Brendan Rodgers stressed that he is keen to keep Dembele, who is unlikely to be involved in the second leg of the Europa League match against Suduva at Celtic Park tonight due to the uncertainty surrounding his future, in Glasgow.

However, Rodgers admitted he could understand the player’s desire to move on and test himself abroad after two seasons in this country amid reports that Lyon are preparing to make a £15 million bid.

But he revealed that he would have to strengthen up front before the 22-year-old is allowed to depart as he would only be left with Odsonne Edouard and Leigh Griffiths when the transfer window closes tomorrow night.

“Moussa, with his representatives, was at the club today speaking on the situation that has evolved in the last few days so he didn’t train,” said Rodgers.

“Now this is a cycle that probably comes on to Celtic every few years. So Moussa’s situation is, he came in here for £385,000, to develop and improve and become a better player. And then naturally he can look to make the next step in his career. It was always going to come at some point.

“So it’s one I absolutely understand 100 per cent. The whole sort of plan that I’d spoken with Moussa a couple of years ago, understand why he might be thinking of the possibility of moving on. It was always in the thoughts.

“We don’t want to lose Moussa. We make that known as well. He’s not one we want to lose, but it’s something that has come up and he and his representatives have asked to explore that. Which is natural.

“I’ve heard, I’ve read, I’ve seen about at least 20 clubs (who are reportedly interested in Moussa) for the last two years, of which we’ve had one team who have come to us and asked us to think. We haven’t had, apart from one, amid all the speculation.

“Even this one here, we haven’t had a concrete offer, but there’s been contact by the club. The club that’s interested to our cub, so tells us they are keen to maybe do something.”

Rodgers added: “There’s also the timing for the club. It’s only three days before the end of the window and the clubs now have to deal with something like this now.

“You certainly can’t let your top striker move on without even having anyone to come in and replace. I thought I could work with two strikers in my first season here. With the number of games and competitions we wanted to be in, that proved to be very difficult. So we need three strikers. How it will evolve over the next three days, I’m unsure. But we’ll deal with it.”

Rodgers also confirmed that Celtic are in talks with Olivier Ntcham, the French midfielder who had attracted the interest of Portuguese club Porto, about improved terms and stated there was no prospect of him leaving in this transfer window.

“There was interest in Olivier but we sat down with him and his representatives and talked through the plan,” he said. “He’s been here one year and it shows the development he’s had with the interest shown in him.

“We’re not ready to sell. When we took Olivier here there was a plan for him and his situation has come up a little bit early than what we’d have thought. He and his representatives are in discussions about a new deal so hopefully that could be finalised soon.”