"?West Ham United have been linked with a £20m January move for Celtic's prized forward Moussa Dembele, despite Brendan Rodgers previously dismissing suggestions the young star could leave before the summer.
The"? widely reported rumour appears to stem from the Insider column on "?West Ham's official website (to be read with large handfuls of salt) which claims "a bid of £20m "? a figure close to the Club's all-time transfer record "? was submitted for a player from Scotland."
The piece (notably titled with 'opinion') also speculates that "an £8m bid was made for a player who currently plies his trade in the Championship, and a £6m bid for a current Premier League player."
The 20-year-old Dembele arrived in Glasgow in June, and has apparently become a top target of many south of the border thanks largely to his eye-catching displays in the Champions League against Manchester City and Barcelona.
While manager Brendan Rodgers admits that keeping the French youth player for the long term may be nigh-on impossible, the former Liverpool boss has been categorical that the Scottish champions won't sell in this window.
"It won't be January for Moussa,"? Rodgers said, as quoted by the "?Standard.
"You know at Celtic that if you get a really talented player, then the cycle at best is a couple of years, like Victor Wanyama, Virgil van Dijk and Ki Sung-yueng.
"If they have that quality, then it's a great platform for them to demonstrate that and then they know there's a better financial situation down south."?
The former Fulham youth player has nine goals in 20 league outings this season, and an impressive haul of 19 strikes in all competitions. Even if West Ham's interest is little more than paper talk, the spot light will remain on Dembele long past this month.