Brendan Rodgers has joked that he told a Celtic physio to stick tight to striker Moussa Dembele "like Franco Baresi" at a west London hospital on transfer deadline day as speculation intensified about a possible January move to Chelsea.
Dembele was spotted getting off a plane from Glasgow to London on Tuesday amid reports that Chelsea had made an enquiry to sign him, though sources at Celtic told ESPN FC that the purpose of the visit was to undergo specialist assessment on a knee injury rather than to hold transfer talks.
The 20-year-old returned to Scotland immediately after the appointment and Chelsea head coach Antonio Conte subsequently dismissed the reports of a possible move for Dembele as "just speculation," but Rodgers says he told physio Tim Williamson to keep track of his striker just in case.