Artur Boruc, the Celtic goalkeeper, has stunned the Parkhead club by revealing he wants to leave in the summer.

“Celtic want more than £10 million for me but that is too much,” Boruc said. “There is much to look forward to with the Champions League and then the European Championships but things can change and I have to see what is best for me.”

Boruc is waiting to see the outcome of the Andy Webster case to see if he has precedent to leave Celtic a year before his contract expires in 2009. Webster, the on-loan Rangers defender, left Heart of Midlothian a year before his contract expired to join Wigan Athletic after becoming the first player to use Article 17 of Fifa’s transfer regulations, which enables players to cancel their contract after an established ‘protected period.’ For players under 28, such as Boruc, the period is three years of their contract.

When Webster invoked Article 17, in May 2006, Hearts appealed his move south, and Fifa ruled Webster had breached his contract without just cause and ordered him to pay £625,000 to Hearts, which Wigan had agreed to pay. This was the value of the final year of his contract. Hearts appealed, claiming they should receive more than £4 million, his perceived transfer value at the time the dispute arose. All parties are awaiting a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and if the ruling is in Webster’s favour, it could set a precedent for Boruc to escape his contract.

Boruc, the Poland international, is currently injured after undergoing minor knee surgery but he aims to return for the Old Firm derby on January 2. “The operation went very well and I should be back next month,” he added. “I cannot say for certain that I will be back for the game against Rangers but I will try really hard to be back because I really enjoy these games.”

Meanwhile, Gordon Strachan, the Celtic manager, believes a winter break could benefit the standard of Scottish football. The Glasgow side face their sixth game in 18 days against Falkirk tonight and with an increasing injury list including Boruc, Shunsuke Nakamura, the winger and Lee Naylor, the left back, Strachan thinks a short break would benefit both the fans and the players.

“Sometimes players can get jaded mentally as well as physically with the number of games played. It would give time for players to get over injuries and niggles, and it would be good for if you have new players coming to the club in January to give them time to bed in. And for that, I think people would see a better quality of football from February onwards.”