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Benfica’s Paulo Bernardo to sign for Celtic within ‘hours’

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Benfica’s Paulo Bernardo to sign for Celtic within ‘hours’

Denmark midfielder Matt O’Riley has been linked both Atalanta and Southampton this summer, with the latter’s manager, Russell Martin, expressing his admiration for the 23-year-old with whom he worked at MK Dons.

However, Rodgers stressed: “No player will leave here unless it is for the right valuation and, at this moment in time, there’s been no team has been anywhere near that.”

Rodgers has no fears about O’Riley’s attitude heading into Sunday’s Scottish Premiership opener at home to Kilmarnock.

“It has actually been straightforward with Matt because he is such a great professional,” he said.

“I think the challenge for teams coming to a place like Celtic is that they can sometimes place a value on the league and not the player.

“Obviously there are riches in other leagues greater than ours that allow players to improve the conditions of their lives – we all understand that.

“But I think it’s really important, from my perspective, if a player does leave here, that they pay the value for the player. I’ve worked in the Premier League and I understand the levels there and what the values are there.”

Meanwhile, Celtic are still awaiting a decision on Adam Idah’s future on the 23-year-old striker’s return to Norwich City following his loan last season.

The Republic of Ireland international was left of our the Championship club’s friendly with Hoffenheim for disciplinary reasons by head coach Johannes Hoff Thorup after he “reported late” for a team flight on Sunday.

“Adam is a Norwich player and I said he did fantastic with us last season and we’ll just see what happens in the coming weeks,” was all Rodgers would offer on that one.

However, he stressed that Celtic “still have a lot of work to do” to be “much stronger” than last season come the end of the summer transfer window.

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