DARLINGTON NAGBE will almost immediately be plunged into a club v country conflict if Celtic manage to pull off their £3million swoop for the USA star.

As SunSport revealed this morning, Hoops boss Brendan Rodgers is closing in on a January swoop for the midfielder.

2 The Portland Timbers playmaker could be on the way to Celtic as soon as the winter transfer window Credit: Getty Images

The Portland Timbers star was a guest of the Parkhead side for their recent Champions League clash with Barcelona.

And Rodgers wants to wrap up a move for the 26-year-old as soon as possible in the next transfer window which starts soon.

However, new USA boss Bruce Arena has revealed he will recall Nagbe into his squad for a training camp at the end of January which would involve matches against Serbia on January 29 and a yet-to-be-confirmed country.

And Nagbe would be very keen to go because he previously turned his back on the USA in protest at being excluded by then manager Jurgen Klinsmann, claiming he 'didn't feel valued' by the German.

2 Darlington Nagbe in action for Portland Timbers in the MLS Credit: AP:Associated Press

However, Arena is keen to mend bridges with Nagbe and namechecked him when he revealed which players would be in his training camp, in San Diego.

He said: "Players who haven't been around in a bit, including Darlingtom Nagbe will be back in camp. We're excited about looking at some of these players to see if they're going to be in a position to help us in 2017."

If ten-times capped Nagbe signed at the start of next month, he would be whisked off to Celtic's winter training camp in the United Arab Emirates.

But if he insisted on attending Arena's US camp, he could feature in the Scottish Cup tie against Albion Rovers and the league clash v St Johnstone, but could miss up to three games against Hearts, Aberdeen and another game with St Johnstone.

However, Celtic could put their foot down and not allow Nagbe to leave for the camp because the games aren't on FIFA dates.