Rangers/Celtic Exclusive: Club-record contract offered to Ben Davies
Ben Davies has been offered a club-record contract by Preston North End to fend off Glasgow giants Rangers and Celtic among others, Football Insider can exclusively reveal.
The Championship club have taken decisive action to avoid losing the centre-back, 25, along with his teammate Daniel Johnson.
A Preston source has told Football Insider that Davies has been offered a record contract in the region of £17,000-a-week to stop him quitting Deepdale either this month or in the summer.
That is a realistic prospect as the defender has snubbed previous attempts from North End to tie him to a new long-term deal.
The second-tier English outfit do not want to lose Davies on a free transfer at the end of the season or to a cut-price January deal.
Celtic have been keeping tabs on the 25-year-old contract rebel along with Philadelphia Union's Mark McKenzie as they look to bring in a new centre-back this month.
Davies is out of contract at Preston at the end of the season and has previously resisted attempts from the club to secure him to an extension.
He is free to speak to foreign clubs regarding a pre-contract agreement and Rangers and Celtic are keen to take advantage of cross-border rules.
Preston will consider bids in the region of £5million this month if they cannot agree fresh terms with the defender.
Football Insider first revealed in August that Celtic were considering signing Davies as a potential replacement for Kristoffer Ajer.
Davies has started 15 of Preston's league matches this season, and only missed out when he was absent for six weeks with a hamstring injury in the autumn.