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Saints In For Celtic Central Defender

The latest player to be linked with a move to St Mary's is Celtic's central defender Kristoffer Ajer, as Saints once again look to the Scottish club for a player or two.

After their unexpected exit from the Champions League, Celtic are said to be looking to rake in some cash to make up the financial deficit and are willing to sell Norwegian defender Kristoffer Ajer.

Saints are said to be interested and not put off by the asking price of around £20 million and could look to try and engineer a deal that would see Mo Elyounoissi move to the Celts on a permanent deal to offset some of the cost.

But Ajer leaving Celtic would not be without controversy, manager Neil Lennon has been complaining that several of his squad are not committed and pundit Noel Whelan went further by naming Ajer and saying that he was one of several who want away from Celtic Park and are trying to engineer moves.

Whelan said.

"The be-all and end-all of it is he doesn’t want to be there, so what’s the point of managing a player that’s not going to give you 100 per cent? You can’t do that as a manager, you can’t have those sort of players in the changing room."

Ralph Hasenhuttl will certainly understand how Lennon feels having had a similar situation with Pierre Emile Hojbjerg and Saints fans will know that feeling after the ex Celtic player Virgil Van Dijk behaved appallingly once Liverpool turned his head.

The 6ft 6 inch Norwegian would certainly add some aerial height to the team, he would also perhaps add some muh needed leadership at the back, Ajer captained his Norwegian club Start in a 1—1 draw against Lillestrøm on 7 April 2015, becoming the youngest ever footballer to captain a team in the Norwegian top flight league the Tippeligaen.

At 22 he has a lot o experience having played 61 times for Start, 131 games for Celtic plus another 17 on loan at Kilmarnock on loan.

It will be interesting to see how this one pans out and if it has any substance.

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