Sky Sports reported on Friday that both Celtic and Rangers were interested in securing McKenna’s signature and things looked set for a Glasgow transfer battle between the pair.
But proceedings have taken a dramatic turn, at least from a Celtic point of view.
Scott McKenna not on Celtic shortlist
The Daily Record have now kiboshed the Hoops link with McKenna, who has played just over 400 minutes of Premier League football this season.
The exclusive, published by Keith Jackson, claims Rangers now have a free run at trying to sign McKenna on loan until the end of the season.
Brendan Rodgers is supposedly not interested in the centre-back, which makes a change from the time the Northern Irishman tried to sign him for Celtic during his first spell as boss.
In the end, McKenna moved to Forest for an initial £3m with the potential for it to rise to £6m – without doubt a club record fee received for Aberdeen.
McKenna’s non-move to Celtic doesn’t bother us too much. He’s hardly kicked a ball since September and wouldn’t be ready enough to make an impact straight away.
Sure, the Scottish Premiership is a step down for McKenna and he is at a good age. There are short-term benefits but he isn’t match fit and generally, we don’t think the deal would go down brilliantly with Celtic fans anyway.
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