Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has refused to be drawn on reports of interest in Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney.

Arsenal have turned down the chance to trigger a 12-month extension to Tierney’s contract and will allow the Scotland defender to depart on a free transfer next summer unless a January move can be agreed in the coming weeks.

With Tierney set to be available for cheap, Celtic are expected to pursue a reunion with their academy graduate, although they will have to fend off interest from a number of Premier League sides to get a deal done.

Rodgers, who handed Tierney 127 appearances during his time at Celtic en route to two league titles, admitted his admiration for the 27-year-old but refused to discuss a formal move.

“Kieran is someone I know really well but there will be lots of players linked with coming to Celtic,” he said.

“We will never speak about a player, especially a young player who is at another club. But we’ve got work to do, we know that. We want to improve the squad further in a number of key areas.

“But until that happens, the players we’ve got here have been working so well and we’ll just continue to work with them and see what happens in January.”

Celtic have an advantage over their Premier League suitors as they can speak directly with Tierney as early as January with a view to a free transfer in the summer, which is expected to be their preferred route due.

However, should they opt to pursue’s signature in January, they would have to negotiate directly with Arsenal.

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