The temperamental striker, who turned down a £6m (€8m) move to Birmingham City, is on loan from Newcastle United until the end of the season with a view to a permanent deal.

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell said recently that the club would not be able to afford the transfer fee unless they qualified for the the Champions League and O’Neill fears that his team might be priced out of the race to land the player.

He said: “In the particular climate we are involved in at this minute it would probably be unlikely we would be able to afford the fee for him but things might change.

“If he does fantastically well and wants to stay and become a massive hit with the supporters then it would make it easier for us to go and try and look at ways of trying to keep him but I think that is all premature.

“Lots of things are based on whether we qualify for the Champions League or not. If we win the league we have one qualifying game, if we are second we have two.

“Craig’s contract with us is up in May and Newcastle have put a price on him and it is there for anyone to make a bid. My own view is that it is too early to call. Let’s say he does fantastically well regardless of whether we play Champions League or not.

“We could look at the situation to see if we would be in a position to do anything, and that might well depend on if we do make the Champions League, and a lot of it will have to do with Craig himself.

“If everything was fantastically rosy I would look at it but we know the price and I would have to say, judging on what has happened over the last couple of years in terms of money spent on players, it would be highly unlikely we would be able to afford the money for Craig Bellamy.”

But youngster Craig Beattie has encouraged Bellamy to stay at Celtic Park and denies that he has an attitude problem.

He refused to shake Gary Caldwell’s hand and was accused of bragging about his wages at Clyde but the youngster wants him to stay even though he is blocking his first-team passage.

Beattie said: “He is a different class and it is great to learn from him, big John (Hartson) and Sutty (Chris Sutton).

“His movement is a different class, he takes the ball and takes players on and he is great to have around the place. He has so much ability so it would be great to keep somebody of his calibre. He has also been spot on.

“You read all sorts of stuff but what you believe is up to yourself. He is a good craic and is genuine and no different to anybody else. He’s a good laugh. I don’t know what happened down south but if you are asking me then he is spot on.”

The champions face Dunfermline at Celtic Park today.