Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that Dedryck Boyata could part ways with the club when the transfer window reopens at the turn of the year. The Belgium international has just eight months left on his existing deal with the Hoops and so far, he has shown no interest in extending his stay with the Scottish champions.

Amidst this, he has been regularly tipped for a return to the Premier League with Fulham among the leading candidates and Rodgers has acknowledged that the Hoops could part ways with the Belgian at the start of 2019, he said: “He's at the stage where he will assess everything and he is probably going to sign the biggest deal of his life over the next couple of months.”

Fulham had a £9m rebuffed for Boyata during the summer transfer window and the Belgian was disappointed which saw him exclude himself for the crunch Champions League qualification match in Greece. However, he has since returned to the fray to perform on a regular basis but the club are likely to face an uphill task of keeping him beyond the current year.

“According to reports, the Cottagers are planning a fresh approach for the former Manchester City“ graduate despite the recent appointment of Claudio Ranieri as the new head coach. Furthermore, it is suggested that they could agree on a much lesser sum than offered during the summer with “the Hoops unlikely to“want to lose their defender on a Bosman in eight months’ time.

Meanwhile, Rodgers’ team can at least have some relief with Boyata’s defensive partner Filip Benkovic, who could stay put for the rest of the season. It had recently been suggested that the 21-year-old could have his loan contract terminated to return to Leicester City but manager Claude Puel has confirmed that won’t be the case.