SOCCER: Celtic manager Martin O'Neill appears to be losing heart in his bid to talk Henrik Larsson into staying at Parkhead beyond the end of the season.

The former Swedish international is adamant he will leave the club when his contract expires in the summer. But that did not stop O'Neill from pledging to do everything in his power to change the player's mind - until now it seems.

With Larsson refusing to budge under pressure from O'Neill and supporters, it appears the Celtic boss now fears the worst. O'Neill said: "Henrik is out of contract at the end of the season and the fact is that we would all like to keep him.

"But Henrik is pretty adamant about what he wants to do and if he was to change his mind tomorrow morning then I would be absolutely delighted.

"It would be terrific if he decided to stay another four or five years but that would be highly unlikely and if he was to leave the football club it would be with everybody's blessing."

There was, however, more encouraging news on the contract front with Liam Miller, Johan Mjallby and Jackie McNamara, whose deals also come to the end when the season finishes.

O'Neill continued: "It's going on pretty nicely and there will be talks this month with a couple of players and Liam is included in that group. I think things are going okay and with a little bit of luck we can get there."

O'Neill may make changes for today's trip to Dundee United with Alan Thompson and Liam Miller - who missed his chance of a Republic of Ireland senior debut against Canada on Tuesday - recovering from calf and hamstring problems respectively.

Meanwhile, Rangers defender Zura Khizanishvili returns after a groin problem for their home fixture with Aberdeen but Ronald de Boer, Craig Moore, Steven Thompson and Christian Nerlinger are all injured.