Celtic's chances of landing Paderborn midfielder Mika Baur have been placed in major doubt by one of the German club's heads.
The Bhoys have been heavily linked with the German midfielder who played a key role in Paderborn winning promotion to the Bundesliga last season.
There were reports of a £4million bid, but according to Paderborn chief Sebastian Lange, no deal has been agreed, and one might be difficult for Celtic to reach.
Celtic might find it hard to sign Baur, chief warns
Speaking to NW Sport, Paderborn chief Lange said: "It’s nonsense. I have no idea where this stuff comes from.
"Have there been offers for players during this transfer window? Yes. Are there offers right now? No. Why not? Because we rejected them all. There are sporting and financial reasons for this.
"Ultimately, we decide what is of interest to us. And everything that came in was, from a financial standpoint, of no interest to us whatsoever."
He added: "We didn't have to think twice during this transfer window. There are a few players (we have received offers for). And that’s nothing unusual. There were even players involved whom you wouldn't expect. Four to five. That includes players from the U21 squad. It’s not as if we have offers for four key players.
"I don’t want to name names, because I don’t want to spoil the market for one or two of them. For SCP, the transfer fee alone isn't the deciding factor anyway; rather, a transfer has to make sense both financially and in sporting terms.
"We have a squad valuation that we calculate internally using a specific formula. There is a sporting value and a financial value.
"The question is: How important is the player to us, and can we actually strengthen the squad? Because only then does it really make sense to let a player go. We want to improve.
"It’s independent of any departures. We want to strengthen the squad either way. And, ideally, keep all the players—or almost all of them.
"We are no longer operating at a loss. We aim to finish the Bundesliga season with a profit, too. We are no longer dependent on transfer revenue like we were in the 2. Bundesliga. We can work with different figures.
"Our job remains to stay calm. But we are certainly noticing right now that the transfer rumour mill is starting to heat up. And that’s only going to increase. We have a long, intense period ahead of us."
Celtic may have to pay big
Paderborn just welcomed a huge financial boost by reaching the Bundesliga, so they don't need to sell. That means Celtic will likely have to come forward with an irresistible offer to get them to sell, and it remains to be seen whether the Bhoys are willing to do that.
Celtic look set to spend around £17million between Kasper Hogh and Haissem Hassan, and they may be relying on Arne Engels and Reo Hatate leaving before they can ramp up their spending further this summer, given the cost of those two deals.
It will be interesting to see if Celtic go out and sign a midfielder before Engels departs, or whether they wait until a deal is done. Either way, Baur appears to be a player they like, and the situation is certainly one to keep an eye on.
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