Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers has said that he won't give up on fighting to have Tom Rogic available to play Rangers, and has urged Football Federation Australia to find "a sensible solution" to the club v country row.

Rogic has been called up by Australia for the Asian Cup and is likely to be in the team for their first game against Jordan on January 6.

FIFA rules allow players to be called up for a period of acclimatisation two weeks before a major tournament. That means Rogic could be asked to report for international duty before Christmas but Australia have allowed him to face Aberdeen on December 26.

Celtic want him to play Rangers three days later before joining up with his international teammates and Rodgers says the player could delay his call-up without anyone losing out.

"At this moment in time he's due to play his last game for us away at Aberdeen and then he's due to fly out to meet up with the Australia squad on the 27th," Rodgers said.

"That would mean him missing the last game.

"It's not something we're overly happy about because we want to work in relationship with the federations. I spoke with Graham Arnold the manager and we had two really good days of trying to ensure that relationships are good between club teams and international teams. We can build those relations but you do that by working together on what is the best for each player.

"We feel that Tom can play and be available for the 29th and then fly out after the game and meet up on the 30th in the morning and be there virtually a week before he's to play his first game."

The Celtic boss said that the player's wish is to play is to please both club and country and has been put in an unfair position.

"Tom wants to play in the game but he also wants to play for Australia," he said. "It's a position that I don't think the player needs to be in.

"It's clearly a showcase game, the Rangers v Celtic game. It's a great game and he's been great in them for us. Of course he can be in it and still travel and recover and prepare and get ready for the cup competition in January.

"So the club are looking into it more and we hope that we can find a sensible solution which allows him to travel and prepare and be ready for his game, which he would be."

Rogic isn't the only Scottish-based player facing the issue. Hibs trio Martin Boyle, Mark Milligan and Jamie Maclaren have also been called up by the Socceroos and face missing the Edinburgh derby. Rodgers says Australia are adamant they won't change their stance for anyone.

"As with the other players," he said. "Neil's in a similar position and he's got three players, including one that they didn't even know about until he told them.

"Out of, again, building relations. Neil told them about Martin Boyle when they didn't know and now he's losing him for a big derby game.

"So you need a sensible solution, if I'm being honest. You can't just throw a blanket over everyone. Each individual case you've got to look at and judge it on its merits because these are big games that they want to play in but they want to play for their countries before."

The Celtic manager also expressed concern for Rogic's feelings if he has to watch the Glasgow derby from afar, and he pointed out that Celtic didn't complain about the after-effects of international football impacting their plans.

"I always encourage players to go and Tom often travels to the other side of the world to play," he said. "We normally forfeit a game. I normally forfeit the game when he does come back because of the exertions of travelling the world, with the tiredness and fatigue and everything. You normally find that in the next game he's not involved because we give him that time to recover.

"So it's disappointing if we can't find a solution but I'm hopeful that they can see sense with it.

"We have to fight for the player as well. He wants to play in the game. If he travels out on the 27th and then he's sat in Dubai having hardly done any training for a couple of days watching the Rangers v Celtic game knowing that he can be playing in it, I don't think it gives him a good feeling."