Celtic star held 'talks' over summer move as ex Rangers man opens up on 'chaotic' Ibrox exit

Several Celtic and Rangers players are currently away with their national sides as domestic football takes its last international break of 2024.

Steve Clarke's Scotland are in Georgia for their penultimate group stage match tonight, with qualification for next year's finals in Germany already secured, and welcomes Norway to Hampden Park on Sunday. Meanwhile, there are still plenty of big transfer and news stories making headlines at clubs.

A Celtic star has revealed that their were talks of him leaving Parkhead during the last transfer window despite him having gone on to become a key part of Brendan Rodgers' current side. Elsewhere, a former Rangers manager has opened up on his 'chaotic' exit from Ibrox. Here are the latest Celtic and Rangers transfer news and news headlines on Thursday, November 16:

Celtic star held 'talks' over summer move

Celtic defender Liam Scales says a permanent move to Aberdeen was 'in the pipeline' during the summer transfer window. The Irishman spent last season on loan at Pittodrie and there was a lot of speculation that he could be heading back to the North East.

However, injuries in the Hoops defence gave him the chance to impress Brendan Rodgers and he is now a key part of the manager's current line up. Speaking to the Irish Independent, he said: “I suppose at the start of the year I think I came back into pre-season with Celtic and most people thought I was going to go back to Aberdeen.

"It was sort of in the pipeline, there was talk of it happening. Then obviously a few injuries happened. I think I’ve surprised in the sense that maybe I wasn’t fully in the picture, then a few injuries happened and I was thrown straight in and did well, and I’ve held my place now.

"I spoke to them at the end of my loan and they were keen to have me back for a year or 18 months and move me on, and I loved Aberdeen, Aberdeen is a brilliant football club. I was really looking forward to trying to get back there and do that, but it has worked out better for me now and I’m happy that it has.”

Ex Rangers man opens up on 'chaotic' Ibrox exit

Former Rangers manager Mark Warburton has opened up on his 2017 departure from Ibrox. The Englishman has described his exit as 'bitter, painful and unnecessary.'

Warburton, along with assistant manager and Rangers legend David Weir resigned in the February but the now 61-year old has said that is not true and that he would 'never walk away from a club like Rangers'. Speaking on his the Scotscore podcast, he said: "I'll never say anything derogatory about the club, you know that.

"I was lying on my sofa watching a game. It was five to nine and I'll never forget this, it was burned on my brain: my phone started jumping a little bit. I got an email from Stewart (Robertson) saying: 'Please check your email. It's a minute to nine on a Friday night, the night before a game. So I'm going to watch a bit of the news, do a bit of paperwork and go to bed.

"I look over and purely by chance I'm on Sky Sports and on the yellow ticker tape I see 'Mark Warburton resigns from Rangers.' You know the double take? My phone's now jumping and I phone Davie Weird and say: 'I think I've just been sacked' and Davie Weir says: 'So have I.'

"I said: 'what do you mean?' Then look up and it says David Weir has resigned from Rangers. So I try to phone the powers that be and no-one picks your calls up. My agent called up to ask what was going on and I had no idea. 'Apparently I've resigned' and he has no idea what I'm talking about.

"So it a nutshell, absolutely not. I was sacked from Rangers. We would never, ever walk away from a club like Rangers. Ever. So that was the frustration. That people suggested we had resigned. Nonsense. Absolute nonsense. It was handled absolutely appallingly at the time. You would never walk away from a club like Rangers and we had to deal with it."