Scottish Gossip: Celtic, Rangers, Hearts, Aberdeen, Motherwell, Roma, Dundee Utd, Shankland, Ajer, Sporar, Barisic, Gallagher, McKenna

Scottish gossip

Scotland striker Lawrence Shankland was watched by Celtic head of recruitment Nick Hammond as he scored a hat-trick in Dundee United's 4-1 win over Partick Thistle in the Scottish Championship on Saturday. (Scottish Sun On Sunday)

Queens Park Rangers watched Dundee United's Lawrence Shankland once again as he scored a hat-trick against Partick Thistle on Saturday and they mull over a summer move for the striker. (Sunday Mail)

Norway centre-half Kristoffer Ajer says he is content at Celtic despite being linked with AC Milan and Leicester City. (Scotland On Sunday)

Celtic manager Neil Lennon is hopeful of making his first January signing in the coming days with the Scottish champions having held talks over the likes of Slovan Bratislava striker Andraz Sporar while being linked with 21-year-old Polish striker Patryk Klimala of Jagiellonia Bialystok. (Sunday Post)

Slovan Bratislava say that any club wanting to sign Slovenia striker Andraz Sporar, who is a target for Celtic, will have to pay at least £5m. (Sunday Mail)

Roma are ready to test Rangers' resolve to hang on to Borna Barisic and are ready to dig deep into their financial resources to sign the Croatia left-back. (Sunday Post)

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has stressed that the Scottish Premiership club are determined to hold on to Scott McKenna in the January transfer window - but will need to consider cashing in on in the Scotland centre-half in the next 18 months. (National On Sunday)

Scotland international Declan Gallagher is being chased by a clutch of English Championship clubs, with Swansea City,Wigan Athletic and Bristol City all weighing up a move for the Motherwell centre-back. (Sunday Mail)

Wolfsburg youth director Pablo Thiam says Charles-Jesaja Herrmann will not be leaving the German Bundesliga club following an official approach for the 19-year-old striker from Hearts. (Scotland On Sunday)

Hibernian are trying to find a new club for out-of-favour goalkeeper Chris Maxwell, who is on loan from Preston North End, so they can re-sign Adam Bogdan. (Scottish Sun On Sunday, print edition)

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard is confident the Glasgow club can secure veteran striker Jermain Defoe on a new contract for next season and said it is "disrespectful" to say the former England international is an understudy to Alfredo Morelos at Ibrox. (Herald On Sunday)

Celtic's hopes of earning a substantial sell-on fee for Moussa Dembele during January appears to have receded after Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas insisted the striker would not leave this month despite being linked with Manchester United. (Sunday Mail)

Livingston manager Gary Holt says any bids for striker Lyndon Dykes will be rejected during January. (Sunday Mail, print edition)

Carlisle United say they have not received any bids for £1m-rated 17-year-old defender Jarrad Branthwaite despite interest from Celtic and Rangers. (Glasgow Evening Times)

Irish club St Patrick's Athletic are interested in signing midfielder Danny Swanson and striker David McMillan, who are both out of favour with St Johnstone. (Scottish Sun On Sunday)

Hamilton Academical midfielder Darian Mackinnon is on the verge of completing a loan move to Partick Thistle for the remainder of the season. (Herald On Sunday)

Celtic, due to their punishing schedule in the second half of the season, are opposed to the Scottish FA's bid to have Premiership fixtures postponed ahead of the Euro 2020 play-offs in March. (National On Sunday)

Scott McTominay's hopes of playing in Scotland's Euro 2020 play-off semi-final against Israel was given a boost when Manchester United revealed that he could be back in training earlier than expected after suffering knee ligament damage. (Sunday Mail)