FOOTBALL GOSSIP

Celtic are targeting 25-year-old Anderlecht left-back Fabrice N’Sakala, who has a £1.5m price tag and who is under contract for three years at the Belgian club. (Sunday Express)

Southampton boss Ronald Koeman is thought to be prepared to wait until January to try to sign Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk rather than go above his £10m limit to meet Celtic’s £13m asking price. (Sunday Mail)

Celtic boss Ronny Deila says more than one club has shown an interest in Van Dijk and he remains hopeful of keeping him at the club. (Mail on Sunday)

Following the departure of defenders Darren McGregor and Marius Zaliukas, Rangers manager Mark Warburton says the players’ exit has nothing to do with balancing the books and everything to do with “shaping the squad the way we want it”. (Sunday Mail)

Warburton backs 20-year-old midfielder Barrie McKay to be a success at Rangers after two seasons out on loan. He is “not a fan” of moves such as that made by former chief executive Charles Green to award McKay a five-year contract. (Mail on Sunday)

Hamilton manager Martin Canning believes his team were worthy of a win over Hearts even before Robbie Neilson’s side were reduced to 10 men by Callum Paterson’s red card. (Sunday Mail)

Rangers full-back James Tavernier admits to enjoying a few fruit gums and chocolate digestives after a game, a treat after eating salmon and pasta for his breakfast when there’s a lunch-time kick-off. (Sunday Herald)

Partick Thistle midfielder Abdul Osman is confident his team-mate Mathias Pogba will soon score for the Jags after failing to find the net in his four appearances to date. (Sunday Mail)

Billy McKay says Dundee United were the only team he wanted to move to from Wigan because they had shown an interest in him all summer and they tried, unsuccessfully, to sign him on a long-term deal rather than on loan. (Sunday Mail)

Ahead of Scotland’s Euro 2016 qualifiers against Georgia and Germany, national team manager Gordon Strachan says any of the top three teams in the Group D – Poland, Germany and Scotland – can finish top and qualify automatically. (Sun on Sunday, Mail on Sunday)

Celtic midfielder Stuart Armstrong will miss Scotland’s double header with Georgia and Germany with a back injury. (Sunday Mail)

After their Champions League exit in Malmo, Strachan thinks Celtic players Scott Brown, Craig Gordon, Charlie Mulgrew, James Forrest and Leigh Griffiths will get a boost by being included in his squad for next month’s matches. (Sunday Express)

Former Rangers and Georgia striker Shota Arveladze thinks his national team have improved under new coach Kakhaber Tskhadadze and will beat Scotland. (Mail on Sunday)

Scott Brown will be fit for Scotland, says Celtic manager Ronny Deila, despite being injured in Saturday’s league win over St Johnstone. (Sun on Sunday)

Alex McLeish says he wishes he could go back and replay Scotland’s Euro qualifier in October 2007 when his high-flying national team lost 2-0 to Georgia in Tbilisi. Despite beating France home and away and with six wins on the trot, Scotland switched off at a corner in Georgia and lost a vital goal from which they never recovered. A subsequent 2-1 loss at Hampden to Italy meant France pipped Scotland to the Euro finals. (Sunday Mail)

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster says league sponsor Ladbrokes offering bets on the likes of Celtic boss Ronny Deila and Kilmarnock counterpart Gary Locke getting the sack “goes with the territory” of doing a deal with a bookmaker. (Various)

OTHER GOSSIP

Andy Murray says that rather than pay heed to the furore caused by Nick Kyrgios’s behaviour on the tennis tour, he will focus on getting his tactics right for his US Open first-round match against what he calls an “unbelievable talent”. (Sunday Herald)

Following Scotland’s 48-7 win over Italy at Murrayfield, head coach Vern Cotter faces “a tough 24 hours” as he pores over selection choices for the Rugby World Cup squad. (Various)

Glasgow Warriors lost the so-called Battle for New Scotland in Halifax, Nova Scotia on Saturday as they went down 19-12 to Canada. (Sunday Herald)