Fraser Forster is still available but Neil Lennon has a big decision to make

Southampton are still willing to sell Fraser Forster this summer, which could give Celtic some hope of keeping him as their number one for next season.

However, Saints are looking for around £10m for the 32-year-old, which pretty much rules out a permanent move to Celtic Park.

Saints manager Ralph Hassenhuttl is seemingly in no rush to let Forster leave either and after a few mixed performances from both Angus Gunn and Alex McCarthy, the Austrian is apparently tempted to give Forster a chance to make himself the club’s number one during pre-season.

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This latest development leaves Celtic with some big decisions to make, and the delay in the English football calendar only further complicates matters.

With Celtic’s domestic campaign getting underway in early August, Neil Lennon will need to have brought in at least one goalkeeper to play in those early games, but Forster will only just be beginning his pre-season with Southampton, so unless Saint change their mind before then, Forster won’t be an option for The Hoops.

However, he could be available later on in the season if Southampton eventually decide to let him leave on loan again.

The problem is, Celtic will have had to bring in another ‘keeper by that point and if it is, for example, Joe Hart, then he will almost certainly be wanting to know he’ll be the undisputed number one before arriving.

This situation is certainly a tricky one, and one that Lennon and his staff could have done without and it may be that they do decide to look elsewhere and use any funds they had planned to spend on Forster on other areas of the squad.