Chelsea and Arsenal handed boost as Celtic’s Moussa Dembele rejects Marseille but opens door to Premier League
Free-scoring French striker has indicated he is not interested in a switch to Ligue 1, but would be tempted by the Premier League or Bundesliga
ARSENAL and Chelsea's hopes of signing free-scoring Celtic striker Moussa Dembele have received a major boost.
Media in the 21-year-old's native France have reported that Dembele is not interested in returning to his homeland, preferring a switch to England or Germany.
Dembele has been strongly linked with a move to French giants Marseille, after starring in Celtic's 'Invicibles' side last season.
He scored 32 goals in 48 games as Brendan Rodgers' team did a domestic treble of Premiership, Scottish Cup and League Cup.
Rodgers said he is not worried by the speculation and expects Dembele to stay at Celtic for at least one more season.
"I counted the other day, Moussa has been linked with 10 clubs... so there is nothing in it from our perspective," Rodgers said ahead of Celtic's Champions League qualifier against Rosenborg on Wednesday night.
However, French news outlet RMS Sport said the player has indicated that he would be keen to move the Premier League or Bundesliga, but not France's Ligue 1.
Arsenal and Chelsea have been monitoring Dembele's progress at Celtic, who he joined from Fulham last summer, whilst West Ham had a bid £20million bid rejected in January.
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Rodgers did however admit that Dembele's long-term future lie away from Glasgow.
"I felt if he progressed the way we thought he'd progress and if he wanted to move any time it would be after the second year," said the former Liverpool boss.
"There is no rush from Moussa's perspective. He is a player that we really want to keep and if anything [an offer] did come in we would assess it."
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