Celtic do not want Nir Bitton to run down his contract, according to Parkhead manager Neil Lennon.

Sean Dyche, the Burnley manager, has been credited with an interest in the 27-year-old Israeli midfielder who is out of contract at the end of the season.

It was Lennon who signed Bitton for Celtic in 2013 and he is keen to keep the versatile squad player at the club with talks underway.

“We don’t want him to go, we want him to stay,” said the Celtic manager. “So, talks are on-going.

“We don’t want him to run down his contract, for sure. He’s made indications he would like to stay and that’s what we want too.

“We’ll see how that pans out. Nir’s happy here and we’re hoping we’ll get a positive resolution to that as we go along.”

Meanwhile, Lennon is confident that the high of Celtic’s European result this week will not derail their domestic journey as they head to Dingwall today.

“I think in the main we’ve handled the Thursday-Sunday games pretty well,” said Lennon. “But, yes, the recovery and the travelling and then the early kick-off – we have to be spot on.

“We can’t use any excuses, it’s just the totting up of the games and we want to be in all the competitions.

“The way they’re playing, the atmosphere’s good and we’re looking forward to it.”

Odsonne Edouard has a niggling ankle injury which could mean that Lewis Morgan keeps his place but Lennon was satisfied with the manner in which so many of his fringe players performed against Rennes.

“Jeremie Frimpong will come back in to our thinking but we are really pleased that Mikey Johnston, Leigh Griffiths and Nir Bitton all got minutes in because we will need them all as we go along and we want them to play. They all looked good and I am delighted with that.

“A bit of that was by necessity but I am really pleased with the quality of the performance. Getting these guys game time in a really competitive fixture with a great atmosphere, it keeps their juices flowing.

“We are going to need them as we go along. I don’t have a first-team set in stone. We do have first-team regulars but we don’t want them to think they are just bit part players because when you come to Celtic and the competition is good and the squad depth is good you want them to be able to step in and have a seamless transition. That’s in a utopian world but they are making a good fist of it at the minute.”