Scottish Premier League: I want O'Neill to stay: Larsson

Celtic striker Henrik Larsson has pleaded with manager Martin O’Neill to resist any attempts by Manchester United to lure him away.

Speculation over the weekend suggested that O’Neill’s representatives had met with United chief executive Peter Kenyon as the future of Alex Ferguson apparently hung in the balance.

However, it is no secret that Ferguson will quit Old Trafford next summer and O’Neill is set to be high on the United board’s shopping list after a stunning first season in charge at Parkhead.

But Larsson, who was himself linked with a move to United, has told the highly-rated manager that Celtic are as big as any club in the world.

"I don’t know what’s happening," said Larsson. "You’ll have to ask him because I really don’t know.

"You all know what I think about leaving this club for a move to England. I’m happy here, but it’s up to him.

"But of course I want him to stay because he’s done a tremendous job at Celtic so far.

"When you do well there’s always going to be speculation about him and the backroom staff he’s brought in as well.

"But this is a big club with 60,000 fans every week and 50,000 season ticket holders and I don’t know if there’s a bigger club than that in the world."

Larsson is currently locked in contract negotiations with Celtic - but he was unwilling to shed any light on how close he was to signing.

The Swedish international, who will spearhead his side’s Treble bid in the Scottish Cup final on Saturday, insisted he could not be happier.

Larsson added: "This is something for me and Celtic to discuss. At the moment I have two years left on my current contract so we’ll just wait and see.

"I’d like to keep the discussions with them and nobody else. Celtic want to extend my contract and obviously I am willing to listen, but nothing has happened yet.

"My family and myself like it here and I am interested in what they have to offer, but again we’ll have to wait and see what happens."

Meanwhile, Larsson will be anxiously keeping an eye on the race for Europe’s Golden Shoe as it looks set to come down to an agonising conclusion.

He has ended the season with 35 SPL goals, but AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko is just 4.5 points behind, while Lazio’s Hernan Crespo is only a further two points back with three matches left to play.

Larsson said: "I don’t know how many goals Shevchenko has got, but I know it would be nice to win this. But if it happens it happens.

"I just have Saturday to play and then two games with Sweden to play so I will find out then."