Scottish Football News

It has been reported that Scottish champions, Celtic, are on the verge of signing 20-year old Barcelona wonderkid, Marc Crosas, in a £2million deal.

Newspapers in Scotland suggest that a fee has been agreed between the clubs and Crosas and his advisors will jet into Glasgow within the next 24 hours to discuss personal terms.

The technically-gifted 20-year-old defensive midfielder is highly rated by Barcelons coach, Pep Guardiola and the player was also wanted by Sevilla, Sporting Gijon and Sampdoria. However, it appears that Celtic have beaten off the strong competition after Barca reluctantly agreed to let Crosas move on.

It is believed the Catalan giants would have preferred to loan the player to Celtic but Crosas held heart-to-heart talks with his employers and urged them to let him move on a permanent transfer.
Crosas had been marked as the natural successor to Xavi, but with the likes of Xavi and Iniesta also vying for a starting berth in the Barcelona midfield, Crosas could well have found it difficult to break through into the first-team at the Nou Camp on a regular basis.

The excellent working relationship which has been built up at boardroom level in the past five years between Celtic and Barcelona has also helped broker the deal. Crosas is now desperate to start his Parkhead career and hopes to sign a three-year contract within the next 72 hours.

The Spaniard spent the second half of last season on loan at Lyon where Brazilian star Juninho took the youngster under his wing, while the youngster also acquitted himself well in appearances in Scotland with Barcelona during their mini-tour this pre-season which saw Barca play Hibernian and Dundee Utd.

Now Crosas is set to become the Parkhead club’s second major summer signing after the £1.25m transfer of Greek striker, Georgios Samaras from Manchester City.

Celtic also hope to add to their squad in the next few weeks with a right-sided centre-half and left-back high on their wish list. Despite rumours to the contrary, it is believed negotiations with Romanian stopper, Gabriel Tamas are still on-going despite it being widely believed the deal was dead, while West Brom’s powerhouse left-back is reported to be the subject of a £1 million Hoops bid.

But while the club seek to bring in players, Celtic are still having trouble moving their misfits, including defender Bobo Balde, off the wage bill.

Sunderland, Birmingham and Ipswich have all been linked to the giant Guinean stopper, but Balde appears to be happy picking up his huge Parkhead pay cheque despite Celtic allowing the stopper to move on a free. However, Balde has so far refused to budge even though the 32-year-old has been out of Gordon Strachan’s top team plans for two seasons – a situation that won’t change anytime soon.

Midfield flop Thomas Gravesen is firmly in the same boat, and if both can be offloaded it means nearly £3 million in wages would be saved during the coming season. Meanwhile, striker Derek Riordan continues to be linked with a move away from the club, with Barnsley supposedly having a £800,000 bid accepted for the player.

Celtic have targeted young Barcelona midfield star, Marc Crosas, as a potential summer signing. Celtic manager Gordon Strachan is keen to strengthen his squad even further ahead of the new season and Crosas revealed he would jump at the chance of a season-long loan with the Hoops.

The Barcelona midfielder is wanted by the SPL champions and also by Spanish club Sevilla.

Crosas is under contract at the Nou Camp until 2010, howver both the interested clubs feel they can win his services for one season. New Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola rates 20-year-old Crosas highly but with an already seemingly limitless embarrassment of riches in the midfield position, he would be tempted in farming the youngster out to another club in order to gain more experience.

A loan deal would not be new to him. Crosas spent six months of last season with French side Lyon and helped them to their seventh successive championship.

Crosas played in both matches of Barcelona’s summer trip to Scotland - the 6-0 humbling of Hibs at Murrayfield and the 5-1 destruction of Dundee United at Tannadice.

Crosas said “I would love to join Celtic. I enjoyed my time last season at Lyon a lot and it is now up to Barcelona to agree a deal with Celtic or Sevilla. Both have made proposals which appear acceptable to Barca.

“An agreement now has to be struck with one of them so that I know where I will be playing next season.

“The option of a season at Celtic could be perfect and there might even be an option to extend that stay.

“For me it would be an enrichening experience to play in Scotland.

“As well as the football, I would experience another culture and also improve my English.

“Gaining experience of playing in the Champions League is another attraction and I am thrilled about that possibility.

“Celtic is a very attractive proposition.”

Barcelona and Celtic have built up something of a rapport in recent years with the two clubs meeting in European competition in three of the last five years, while Barca have also visited Scotland as part of their pre-season preparation for the past two years and Crosas’ agent, Ramon Arasa, admits that the Spanish club’s positive experiences in the country could tip the balance in the Hoops’ favour.

Arasa confirmed: “Both Celtic and Sevilla are now having open discussions about Marc.

“Barca’s trip to Scotland has certainly whet the appetite and Celtic are a club with great history.

Meanwhile, Celtic are also thought to be interested in Chelsea midfielder Jack Cork. According to some reports, the Glasgow side are considering a swoop for the 19-year old versatile defender.

Cork is a product of the Chelsea youth academy and has been capped at Youth and Under-19 levels and has spent the last three seasons on loan – twice to Bournemouth and the other to Scunthorpe United. Fulham, West Ham and Sheffield Wednesday have also been linked with the Chelsea player.

GORDON STRACHAN has told Danish flop Thomas Gravesen he’ll never play for Celtic again.

The midfielder, who spent last season on loan at Everton, was left behind when the rest of the Parkhead squad travelled to Portugal on their preseason trip.

And if Gravesen was harbouring hopes of resurrecting his career in Glasgow he has been left in no doubt he’ll never wear the Hoops again

Boss Strachan said: “I spoke to Thomas and told him he won’t play for us because of the system we play. We tried our best to get a system which suited Thomas and it hasn’t worked. It was the system to blame, not the player or the club. Thomas finds it difficult to fit into our system and he’ll tell you that himself.

“He’d rather play in a system that suits him and we can’t change our style of play to suit one player.”

Strachan says the 32-year-old, signed from Real Madrid in a blaze of glory, has taken the fact he’s turning into a highly-paid misfit in his stride.

And the bruising to his pride will be soothed by the £40,000 a week Gravesen still gets paid even though he’s of no use to his employers.

Strachan added: “Thomas has been good about it and understands the situation. It’s a football thing and not a personal issue.

“I’m not worried one way or the other about how it pans out because Thomas will still get treated properly for as long as he stays here.”

The position regarding Derek Riordan, who slaughtered Strachan’s man-management in public last season, is more pointed.  It’s highly unlikely that Riordan will ever play for Celtic again either and will be invited to go elsewhere any time he likes. Strachan said: “Derek wants to go away and try somewhere else and we’re not going to stop him. But we can’t just let him walk out the door.”

Celtic value Riordan at around £1 million and rejected a £400,00 bid from Burnley earlier in the close-season.

Motherwell boss Mark McGhee has seen his attempt to lure Celtic’s John Kennedy to the club on a loan deal collapse after the manager failed to secure adequate backing from the club’s board. The Motherwell manager was determined to sign the central defender on a six-month deal and Kennedy had flown out with the Fir Park outfit to Austria for pre-season training in the hope of securing the move.

However, McGhee has seen the move collapse and has blasted the club’s board for their lack of ambition.

“The deal appears to be dead in the water. Our board refused to meet Celtic’s demands and Peter Lawwell refused to budge.

“It’s hugely frustrating because I want to improve and take this team forward and that’s going to be difficult without pulling a few rabbits out of the hat.

“I’m as disappointed as I was excited when I thought John would be joining us a few weeks ago.

“The problem is our board were not prepared to pay what Celtic were asking, so there you go. Plus, Celtic were immovable in their demands.

“The thing is there were other clubs involved who were prepared to pay what Celtic want. I spoke to John on Thursday and, again, he was desperate to come here.”

It is believed that Celtic wanted Motherwell to cover central defender Kennedy’s wage packet in full. Preston North End and Norwich City are now said to be interested in taking the Scotland internationalist on loan.

Meanwhile, Steven Hammell is looking to reach peak fitness for Motherwell’s tough start to the season following his first taste of McGhee’s pre-season training regime – including punishing mountain runs. The defender returned to Fir Park in January after an 18-month spell at Southend to help the Steelmen seal third place in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League.

Hammell’s team-mates had benefited from their training camp in Austria last summer and the left-back admits his debut experience in Obertraun was as intense a training regime as he has experienced.

“We went to Austria for a week but I’m sure it felt more like three months,” the 26-year-old said.

“We were up at seven every day running in the trees and the hills. It was hard work but it was good work as well and hopefully the benefits will show in the next few games because the gaffer demands a high level of fitness. Every pre-season is difficult but the way they structure the runs and the intensity is different. There is no slacking off at any time so it’s intense in that way.

“He gives you targets to reach and you have got to get to them.

“The gaffer sets high standards, he doesn’t just hope for the best – he demands the best.”

McGhee appeared to expect more from Hammell following his return when the Motherwell manager said he was looking forward to getting the full-back as fit as the rest of the squad.

Hammell did not feel worse off but he hopes his hard work will pay off as Motherwell begin their season at Hearts followed by games against the rest of the SPL’s top six. “When he said that I didn’t feel less fit than the rest of the boys,” the Scotland cap explained.

“Because I hadn’t done a pre-season at Motherwell he wasn’t sure what I was doing before, but personally I felt fit enough. I have played every game since pre-season so I can’t have done any more. I’m feeling fit now and hopefully in another couple of games we’ll be ready to fly out the blocks because it’s a tough start.”

Dundee United manager Craig Levein says the club could not stand in the way of striker Noel Hunt, who has headed south to join Reading.

The Irish forward, who had been linked with a move to SPL champions Celtic, has joined the English side in a deal reported to be worth around £600,000.  Levein had alreadty brought in Warren Feeney and Francesco Sandaza for next season, in anticipation of losing the striker.

Levein told The Scotsman: “This transfer represents an excellent deal for Dundee United and helps bring further financial stability to the club.

“Following an initial inquiry last season, we were aware that Reading might make a formal offer before the close of this transfer window and made plans accordingly.

“We knew that a formal offer would require serious consideration and we knew we had to plan to replace Noel before it became too late to do so.

“The move is also an excellent opportunity for Noel and we couldn’t stand in his way.”

Noel’s brother, Stephen, is already on the books at Reading.

It is being reported that Celtic’s bid to sign Auxerre defender has failed, after talks between club and player seemingly collapsed under the pressure of too many agents demanding too much wages for the Romanian.

Celtic have been in negotiations with the player since last Friday to try and reach an agreement for the Romanian star, but Parkhead chief executive Peter Lawwell is believed to have finally decided that enough is enough and has pulled out of the protracted deal.

It was thought that Tamas was set to at least double his wages if he had accepted the first deal on the table, rumoured to be £14k per week, but it is believed Peter Lawwell reckons that the player’s agents were being too greedy and had been advising the player to continue negotiations.

It is now widely expected that Celtic will switch their attention over to Serbian defender, Marko Basa, who currently plays for Le Mans.  Celtic have already agreed a fee for the player but will now have to begin wage negotiations all over again.

Reports in the Romanian media suggest that Celtic WILL sign Gabriel Tamas, with the player expected to be paraded on Thursday.

According to the report, Celtic and Tamas’ French club, Auxerre, have agreed a £3.5 million deal which will see Tamas move to Glasgow on a 4-year, £20k per week contract.

Rumours are circulating in the French press that Celtic boss Gordon Strachan is tracking Argentine striker Fernando Cavenaghi.  The 24-year old striker, who currently plays for French side Bordeaux will likely command a transfer of around £6 million.

Cavenaghi holds an Italian passport, so there would be no issues surrounding a work-permit for the player who has had spells at Spartak Moscow and River Plate.  His Bordeaux career got off to a slow start before he went on a run of scoring ten goals in nine games and finished the season with twenty-four goals.

However, the move appears doomed to fail after Bordeaux reportedly refused the player permission to speak to the Scottish champions.

Glasgow Celtic transfer target, Gabriel Tamas has rated his chances of signing for the Parkhead giants at “greater than 50/50″.

The Romanian international defender, who currently plays for French Ligue One side Auxerre, has been capped 35 times by his country and the clubs have reportedly agreed a £3.5 million transfer fee.  If successful, Tamas will be Celtic boss Gordon Strachan’s third summer capture, after signing Irish winger Pat McCourt from Derry City and Greek striker Giorgios Samaras from Manchester City, who had previously spent four months on loan at the Glasgow club.

Discussions between Tamas’ agents and Celtic continue as an agreement over personal terms has yet to be reached, but Tamas told the Glasgow Evening Times newspaper:

“My chances of moving to Celtic are more than 50-50,” Tamas said in the Evening Times.

“There is a bigger chance I will be playing for Celtic next year than Auxerre.

“For the moment nothing has been completed. But I’m confident I will have news by tomorrow.”

Should Celtic fail in their bid to land Tamas, they have other options to pursue who also play in the French Ligue One.  Le Mans’ Serbian defender, Marko Basa, is one possible target along with AS Nancy player Sebastien Puygrenier and Rennes stopper John Mensah.  Other defensive targets are rumoured to include Dorin Goian, Tamas’ defensive partner at the Euro 2008 tournament and young Czech starlet Marek Suchy, who is also wanted by rivals Rangers, as well as English Premier League clubs Everton, Newcastle and Aston Villa.

However, as one defender looks set to make the switch to Celtic Park, another looks set to depart after Sunderland had a £2 million bid accepted for Celtic left-back, Lee Naylor.  The Englishman had a successful first season in Scotland after moving north from Wolverhampton Wanderers but has since lost his form.  With Gordon Strachan on the hunt for a new left-back - Michal Kadlec of Czech Repulic and Romanian international Razvan Rat continue to be linked - it appears Naylor’s days as a Celtic player are numbered.

Sunderland, managed by Irishman Roy Keane, have been linked with several players but have yet to make any signings.  Keane is known to be looking towards strengthening his defence and Naylor could be the first of several new faces at the Stadium Of Light.

Naylor is expected to hold talks with the Black Cats over the next few days.