Celtic turn down offer for defender from Belgian club

Celtic are expected to try and sign a centre-back this summer to add some competition in that area of the pitch. At the moment, both Cameron Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales look like automatic selections with the others not really competing for a starting spot. The Hoops have been linked with a few centre-backs in recent months and it remains to be seen if they eventually end up making an addition there or not.

On the other hand, there are question marks over the futures of a number of their current centre-backs. One of them is Stephen Welsh.

Welsh was widely expected to leave Celtic last summer. But then, he ended up impressing early on in Brendan Rodgers' second run as the club's manager and was quickly handed a long-term contract extension.

Welsh soon found himself out of action for months with an injury as well and by the time he returned, he had slipped down the centre-back pecking order. He made appearances here and there but overall, it was a campaign to forget at an individual level for the Celtic academy graduate.

Celtic turn down offer for defender from Belgian club

There has been some interest in the signature of Welsh this summer. But it looks like Celtic are not ready to part ways with him just yet. Not at this point in the transfer window.

As tweeted by Anthony Joseph, Celtic have told KV Mechelen that Welsh is not available for a transfer at this stage of the window. The Belgian Pro League club made a loan offer for the defender. The Hoops are still assessing their centre-back situation.

To be honest, Celtic should not part ways with Welsh unless they end up signing a better centre-back than him this summer. The likes of Gustaf Lagerbielke and Yuki Kobayashi are further down the pecking order and should head for the exit before the Scotsman.