Barclaycard Premiership sides Everton and Blackburn Rovers have also expressed a keen interest although no concrete offer has been received from either David Moyes or Graeme Souness.

Pearson is under contract at the club until the summer but one of the main stumbling blocks to the deal to take the player up the M74 to Parkhead is the possibility of Well boss Terry Butcher taking loan players in exchange.

Motherwell are still officially in administration leaving the Fir Park manager with his hands tied financially when the transfer window reopens on Thursday.

A Fir Park source said: “One of the main issues is loan players for Motherwell, which has been talked about.

“Terry has been looking at a range of players with a view to one or two being on loan.”

Hoops’ midfielder Jamie Smith has been touted as a possible loanee to the Lanarkshire side.

Meanwhile, Celtic midfielder Stilian Petrov believes Martin O’Neill and his team-mates can look back with pride at 2003 after the Parkhead boss was awarded the OBE for his team’s efforts.

The Hoops failed to win any silverware but the Bulgarian player of the year insists the UEFA Cup final appearance and the dramatic last day in the Bank of Scotland Premier League in May have contributed to an added determination this season.

Petrov said: “When we look back on the year, we have to consider it a successful one for the club, even if we do not have any trophies to show for it.

“We reached a European final, and only lost out in extra time to Porto.

“We also missed out on winning the championship for a third time by just a single goal.

“Of course, not winning anything after playing so well domestically and in Europe has left all of us frustrated.

“Now, everyone here is hungry to win something in 2004, and we’ll do our best to achieve this and to make our fans happy.”

Now Petrov is looking for another memorable year with Celtic eight points clear at the top of the table and the UEFA and Tennent’s Scottish Cup up for grabs.

But the midfielder also has a date in Portugal in mind for the summer when he leads his country in the Euro 2004 finals.

Petrov added: “It’s fantastic to know that, at the end of the season, Bulgaria will be going to the European Championship finals, especially as we just missed out on qualification for the last World Cup finals.

“But there are still a lot of games to be played for Celtic before I’ll even start to think about going to Portugal.

“I need to perform well for my club and to make sure I keep my place in the side.

“I will work as hard as I can for Celtic, and that will be the best possible preparation for leading Bulgaria to the European Championship.”