Deila comments on potential moves for Ajer and Roberts

Celtic manager Ronny Deila says nothing is finished yet in regards to their interest in IK Start midfielder Kristoffer Ajer.

The 17-year-old Norwegian has had a one-week trial at Celtic, and has since returned back to his home country, who finished 14th in the Norwegian Tippeligaen.

Ajer has made 47 appearances for Start, scoring 13 goals in the process and adding five assists.

He started his footballing career with Lillestrom and has made seven appearances for the Norway Under-17 team, scoring one goal.

Roma and Paris Saint-Germain were said to be interested in him and scouted him regularly, with the Serie A side bidding €2 million last year, but the Norwegian side rejected it.

The midfielder also made Tippeligaen history by being the youngest captain aged 16 when Start played Ajer’s childhood team Lillestrom.

Celtic have signed 24-year-old Danish defender Erik Sviatchenko in this window, and Ryan Christie has been recalled to Celtic Park after a loan deal at Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

As quoted by the BBC, when he spoke to the media, Deila said:

When it [the transfer window] is closed we will say something if he [Ajer] does [join]. It is a very difficult window.

The teams around us don’t want to lose players when they are in the middle of the season but we’ll see. We work on and everybody in the club is looking for options and seeing what is possible.

Deila was also asked about 19-year-old Manchester City winger Patrick Roberts, who has only made three appearances for the Manchester team, as opposed to Fulham, where he had previously made 22 appearances.

When questioned on the deal for Patrick Roberts, Deila simply said, as per the Daily Mail:

We will not take a player on loan to have him only until the summer – he would have to be something special. If it’s going to be loans then it has to be longer than just to the summer.

If not, there is not anything to think about. We have a lot of players. We have to think: “Is it somebody who can make a difference into next season as well?