Pearson may still leave Hoops
Midfielder Stephen Pearson could still leave Celtic despite being told he is not for sale by manager Gordon Strachan.
The Hoops boss has informed the Scotland international he remains a part of his plans after receiving a bid from Derby, who have signed Mo Camara from the Glasgow giants.
But, after impressing in the friendly draw at Chelsea last week, the 23-year-old found himself on the bench for the weekend win over St Mirren.
The former Motherwell man has vowed to fight for his place at Celtic Park but concedes he needs regular games.
Pearson said: “It was great to hear the manager say I am in his plans.
“That is the most important thing and I just need to keep knuckling down and fight for my place.
“I do not really bother about the speculation to be honest. I will just keep training away and, hopefully, take my chance when I get it. Whatever happens will happen.
“The manager has told me he wants me to stay and that is fine with me.
“I am happy to stay as long as I am getting a run in the side. Obviously the manager cannot guarantee me games, but I need to play regularly.”
Pearson admits his weekend omission was frustrating but is determined prove himself when his next chance arrives.
He added: “I got the whole game against Chelsea last week and enjoyed it.
“It was good to get a full 90 minutes under my belt and I felt I did well.
“I was hoping to build on that on Saturday against St Mirren but, unfortunately, it wasn’t to be.
“All I can do is impress the manager when I get the chance and, hopefully, stay in the side.
“I tried to do that against Chelsea, but, unfortunately, it was not enough.
“However, I am determined to keep working hard and there is no reason why I cannot get a run in the side soon.”
Celtic celebrated their first clean-sheet of the season in the 2-0 win over the Buddies and summer signing Gary Caldwell believes his defensive partnership with Stephen McManus is developing well.
He said: “Mick and I are getting to know each other and the centre-back pairing always has to have that understanding between them.
“We are disappointed not to have kept clean-sheets in the first few games.
“But, in the game against Chelsea especially, we defended the ball very well inside the box against a team that comes at you with a lot of different attacking options.
“We are getting more and more confident but we are aiming to keep teams out of our net and that’s why the game against St Mirren was important for us.”
Strachan was hoping to work with his players on the training ground again this week but has been left frustrated by the exodus for international duty.
He told the Celtic View: “I’m the same as every manager and I see Jose Mourinho was talking about it this week in that I would love to have that time to spend with the players.
“So far we haven’t had as many training or coaching days as we did last year because of the intensity of the pre-season.
“It would have been a good week to get everyone together to work on one or two things but what I can do is watch videos of the last few games and pinpoint details I want to show the players when they come back – things we can work on.”
