Scottish Gossip: Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, St Mirren, Atlanta, Morelos, Alegria, Elhamed, Hazard, Simunovic, McKenzie

Rangers' hopes of signing 18-year-old Colombian striker Juan Alegria from Honka and Celtic's chances of securing 21-year-old Philadelphia Union centre-half Mark McKenzie could be scuppered because neither would pass the elite level standards yet to be rubber stamped between the UK government and English football. The Scottish FA has written to the government pleading for Scottish football to be made a special case after Brexit. (Daily Record)

Hapoel Be'er Sheva are poised to make the first move to sign Celtic defender Hatem Abd Elhamed, who wants to be reunited with his wife and son back home in Israel, in January, but Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa are both in the mix, with Beitar Jerusalem outsiders for the 29-year-old. (Scottish Sun)

Celtic are in talks with Northern Ireland goalkeeper Conor Hazard over a new long-term deal after the 22-year-old's first-team breakthrough. (Football Insider)
Croatia centre-half Jozo Simunovic remains without a club after being released by Celtic in the summer, but the 26-year-old is back training in his hometown of Zagreb after recovering from a knee injury (The Herald)Full-back Andrew Gutman, the 24-year-old who has been on loan to Cincinnati after he was denied a work permit to play in Scotland after signing for Celtic in 2019, has been selected by Atlanta United in the Major League Soccer re-entry draft. (Scottish Sun)Striker Curtis Main admits that he has failed to make the impact he hoped after signing for Aberdeen from Motherwell, but the 28-year-old hopes that injury struggles are behind him and that talks will soon take place about extending his contract beyond the summer. (Press & Journal)

Dundee United manager Micky Mellon has confirmed the Scottish Premiership club's coaching staff have taken wage cuts to help ease a cash crisis, while talks continue with the players, although they are unwilling to accept the 20% cut proposed by sporting director Tony Asghar. (Daily Record)The Scottish FA has decided to cut the payments made to clubs when young players break into first teams from their academies. Almost £800,000 was paid out last season. (Scottish Sun)

The Scottish government has defended its decision to offer grants rather than loans to Scottish Premiership clubs, but the clubs may snub the offer for fear of increasing their debt burden. (Daily Mail, print edition)

St Mirren manager Jim Goodwin will challenge any touchline ban resulting from him being sent to the stand for his celebration as Conor McCarthy scored a dramatic late winner in Wednesday's Scottish League Cup win over Rangers. (Scottish Sun)
Jamie McGrath, the 24-year-old winger who scored twice in St Mirren's League Cup win over Rangers, has revealed that he was a boyhood fan of Ibrox manager Steven Gerrard and that his Celtic-supporting uncle inspired him before the quarter-final. (The Scotsman)Dundee United centre-half Mark Connolly has refused to criticise Alfredo Morelos for the weekend challenge that has led to the Rangers striker receiving a two-game suspension, suggesting that the Colombian's actions were out of frustration at not scoring and was not a result of being provoked. (The National)St Mirren's League Cup win over Rangers has exacerbated Celtic's fixture pile-up as the reigning champions' game against the Paisley side on 24 January will now need to be re-arranged because of the semi-final. (Scottish Sun)