Craig Gordon ends Chelsea speculation by signing new three-year Celtic deal

Chelsea now seem unlikely to rekindle their interest in Craig Gordon this summer after confirmation that he has committed his future to Celtic. The veteran goalkeeper was the subject of two bids from the English Premier League leaders during the January transfer window as Antonio Conte searched for a new backup for Thibaut Courtois. His arrival would have allowed Asmir Begovic to join Bournemouth.

While such a deal never came to pass and Begovic stayed put for the time being, he is widely expected to depart Stamford Bridge at the end of the season in pursuit of regular first-team football. Chelsea were believed to be ready to revive their pursuit of Gordon as a result, with the London Evening Standard, claiming that those rejected winter offers were worth £3m ($3.6m) and £4m respectively, reporting that he remains on their wishlist.

Celtic remained steadfast in their desire not to sell Gordon, who has successfully re-established himself as first-choice between the posts after being supplanted by Dorus de Vries. Indeed, manager Brendan Rodgers outlined a desire to "build a team around" the influential 34-year-old and tie him down to a new long-term contract.

Progress on that extension initially appeared slow, although Rodgers confirmed after Sunday's (5 March) emphatic Scottish Cup quarter-final comeback victory over St Mirren that everything had been agreed. Celtic have now publicly announced a new three-year deal, which will keep Gordon in Glasgow until 2020.

"It's taken a little while after the interest in the January window but it's good to finally get it done and concentrate on the rest of the season," said the 45-cap Scotland international. "It was quite stop-start, there was a lot of things going on within the club, it wasn't a continuous thing, it wasn't like we were talking about it for months. There were two or three occasions when we sat down and talked about it, it was fairly straightforward in the end, I wanted to stay."

Former Hearts and Sunderland stopper Gordon, who spent more than two years out of the game due to persistent knee trouble before joining Celtic in 2014, has kept 22 clean sheets in 42 appearances during a dominant campaign that has seen the 47-time Scottish champions open up a 27-point gap at the top of the Premiership.

Rodgers' side, who will now be eyeing a rare season of remaining unbeaten, are undefeated in 34 domestic matches and have won each of their last 22 league fixtures. A last-gasp 2-2 draw at Inverness Caledonian Thistle in September is the only minor blot on their otherwise pristine copybook.