Ex-Celtic striker Frank McAvennie has played down the prospect of Liel Abada leaving Parkhead this summer.

Reports have suggested that the Israeli international has turned down a new contract and there is an increasing likelihood that he could make a switch to the Premier League. Southampton have been credited with an interest in the 21-year-old, with the Saints plotting a £10m bid, but McAvennie believes the speculation is simply agent talk:

“It is inevitable players move on but he is only a young boy. He is at a big club and doing well and all of a sudden agents are creeping in. It is not going to happen, he will not go to any bigger club than Celtic. That is if he even wants to leave.”

“He is only 21, I think Ange is doing well with him. He was terrible for a couple of games and the manager had every right to leave him out. Then when he brings him back he does well.”

“I do not think it will bother Ange too much. If he goes somewhere else he will be like another player. Abada is not ready to go to the Premier League. He is at a huge club, the fans love him and he has got to settle down.”

While some fans may back McAvennie’s view of the situation, the evidence is heavily weighted in favour of Abada’s departure from Celtic Park.

Josip Juranovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis arrived in the same summer as Abada but the two players are no longer at the club after their own contract disputes.

Abada has been inconsistent, as McAvennie points out, but that is expected for such a young player. It will be a big disappointment if the winger does leave Glasgow at the end of the season.