Rangers and Celtic have just opened talks to sign Leeds United player in January window

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Joe Gelhardt is likely to be the subject of plenty of interest between now and the January deadline and a new report claims both Celtic and Rangers have made enquiries for the Leeds United player.

A number of injuries and the combined form of Joel Piroe, Patrick Bamford and Georginio Rutter has kept Gelhardt on the sidelines. The England youth star has managed just eight appearances all season.

Only one Championship outing since September 17 – and that was a five-minute outing from the bench. He needs game time and a loan makes sense, especially with Mateo Joseph another option in attack.

Gelhardt has plenty of interest from England and Scotland. Blackburn, Preston, Hull City, Plymouth and West Brom have all shown interest so far. Celtic and Rangers have already been linked with the star.

But now, Dean Jones has told Give Me Sport that Celtic and Rangers have opened talks with Leeds by enquiring after the former Wigan man – who has been compared with Wayne Rooney during his youth.

“He’s got excellent traits that probably need a bit of development now. I’m not surprised that enquiries are being made on both fronts from Rangers or Celtic at this moment in time,” Jones said on Gelhardt.

“For a player like Gelhardt, it’s probably confidence-boosting to have those conversations happening. Whether they can come to fruition, but I don’t think it’s harming anybody to look at that situation.”

Celtic and Rangers open talks to sign Leeds man Joe Gelhardt

What a move it would be for Gelhardt to go north of the border and try something new, playing for one of two massive clubs and getting some confidence back. Celtic are lacking in options up front, now.

Oh Hyeon-gyu is at the Asian Cup with South Korea and that leaves Celtic with just one recognised striker in Kyogo – who was snubbed by Japan. Rangers let Sam Lammers go, but signed Fabio Silva.

So you would imagine that Celtic are more in need of Gelhardt as things stand. Whether or not Leeds are willing to let the attacker leave before the end of the window remains to be seen.