Celtic could be set for a £7m Christmas present with Alexandro Bernabei desperate to seal a permanent move to Internacional - who have spoken out on their final offer to the Parkhead club.
But even if a move to his current loan club doesn't come to pass, then the Hoops remain in a strong position to sell, with a Brazilian rival watching on from the wings. Internacional have until next week to agree on a deal with the Hoops to sign Bernabei with his loan deal set to expire at the end of the year. They have sent a take-it-or-leave-it offer to the Scottish champions this week, which was reportedly for another loan deal because they had no chance of meeting Celtic's £7million price tag. And Internacional vice-president Jose Bisol has insisted they have been as honest as they can.
He said: "Alexandro Bernabei has settled into the club. He wants to stay at Internacional. But we are not going to be financially irresponsible. The club has financial limits and we laid them out to Celtic. It's up to them and I hope for a positive outcome."
Bernabei has also been strongly linked with a move to Brazilian runners-up Palmeiras, who are waiting in the wings if his return to Internacional collapses. That may be Celtic's best hope of landing the type of cash they want for Bernabei and they'll be hoping an offer arrives to free up even more funds before January 1.
Alexandro Bernabei
There's one man they have in mind as they look to strengthen the left-back position next month. And no points for guessing who it is.
Hopes of seeing Kieran Tierney back in green and white have ramped up after the news that he's set to leave Arsenal when his contract expires. Celtic are hardly short of cash but it would take a mega contract offer to bring Tierney, currently on a reported £110,000 a week, back to Scotland. But landing that sort of fee for Bernabei, which Celtic wouldn't have envisioned a year ago, would cover at least the first year of that type of contract for Tierney.
Elsewhere Matt O'Riley insists it still hurts that he was snubbed by Denmark at the Euros - because he thought he'd done enough last season at Celtic to be in their squad. The former Hoops midfielder was a record sale by the Parkhead side to Brighton in a stunning £25 million deal in the summer. But he had to endure heartache after he was told he wasn't in Denmark's Euro 2024 squad despite scoring 19 goals and managing 18 assists for Celtic last season.
And O'Riley admits he still can't believe he didn't do enough in Scottish football to impress then-Danish boss Kasper Hjulmand. He said: "Of course it hurt. I thought I had done enough to come along. But it wasn't up to me. I thought the season I had with Celtic could have played a bigger role.
"I spoke to Kasper Hjulmand on the phone, and he said 'right now you're not in, but you can come over and train with us for two or three days, and maybe something can change'. I said okay to that, and I took over to train with him. I thought I was training well and that maybe I could come in, but then he pulled me aside after training and said 'sorry, but you're not coming in'.
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"Of course, it's difficult to be a national coach, and it's not like I'm sitting here saying I should have been there, but my attitude was that I thought I could help the team. We don't have much control over whether we play. We just have to do what we can. No hard feelings
"I've tried to train well when I was there and I just tried to enjoy it. But some things are just out of our control and we just have to try to accept that. And I actually think I'm good at that."