Celtic Report (Part 1)

As the World Cup looms imminently, Gordon Strachan’s plan of completing his business in the transfer market before it began has not come to fruition. However, the double winning manager however has already recruited former Hibs captain Gary Caldwell and his team mate Derek Riordan, along with Scottish International striker Kenny Miller all on free transfers for the upcoming season.

Gary Caldwell was officially unveiled as a Celtic player on the 1st of June after signing a pre-contract agreement in January on a three year contract. The 24 year old is Celtic through and through and couldn’t hide his delight after being given the No.5 Hoops jersey. The Scottish internationalist said, “It’s been a long time coming. I’ve wanted to play here all my life, I followed Celtic as a kid and to play for the team I supported is a dream come true for me. I’ve been brought up to play the ‘Celtic Way’ my whole life, and that is to pass the ball and play good attacking football. As a centre-half, that might sound a bit strange. But that’s where everything begins and hopefully Celtic will see a player who has the desire and commitment to win every game.”

Having gained 16 international caps already, Caldwell is an integral part of Walter Smith’s Scotland squad and believes the experience he has gained in the international arena will stand him in good stead for this season’s Champions League campaign. Caldwell said: “I’ve played against some of the best players in the world for Scotland and always acquitted myself well. Walter Smith has kept picking me and I’m looking forward to the prospect of testing myself in the Champions League. It was a big thing about coming here and, like everyone; I’ve always watched the Champions League on the television. It’s a level every footballer wants to play at and hopefully we’ll have some massive games here at Celtic Park next season, against some of the biggest names in Europe.”

The versatile players’ determination to play a major part in a successful Celtic side over the next three years and beyond is a prospect that will excite Strachan as he continues to build an ever improving team for the future. Caldwell said, “I want to improve as a player and I know I need to improve. Hopefully, if everyone works hard, we can achieve great things here.”

Caldwell will be joining his former Hibs team mate Derek Riordan at Celtic Park. The promising striker has agreed to join the SPL Champions but cannot sign until the 18th of January, unless Celtic pay Hibs compensation for the 23-year-old's services due to the fact he is still under contract with the Edinburgh side until the 31st of October. Celtic will hope to get this situation sorted out before the season begins because as it stands, the scenario suits no one involved in the transaction. The highly rated dead ball specialist very nearly joined Rangers last January, however Hibs rejected an offer of £500,000 for the player much to the disappointment of manager Alex McLeish who desperately seeked a striker with a good goal scoring pedigree. Riordan, who has already been capped by Scotland, scored 20 goals for Hibernian this season despite playing part of the season playing out on the wing. Riordan has amassed an impressive total of 56 goals in the past three seasons and the talented player can only improve as a player. When Riordan finally joins up with his new team mates he will finally give Aiden McGeady a run for having the worst haircut at Celtic Park.

Kenny Miller will officially become a Celtic player on the 1st of July having signed a pre-contract agreement to join Celtic last January. The 26-year-old Scottish internationalist will join on a three-year contract, with Celtic having the option of a further year. Miller said, "When Celtic made their interest known, this was where I wanted to play. It's a tremendous honour." Rangers had been linked with bringing the player back to Ibrox and there was also interest from Italian clubs.

The striker is now eager to join up with manager Gordon Strachan. Last January Miller explained, "Having spoken to Gordon and the club, I am delighted to have committed my future to Celtic. I am looking forward immensely to joining my new team-mates in the summer and hope to be able to play my part in bringing further success to Celtic.” Strachan stated that, "Kenny is a quality player and I am delighted to have secured his signing for next season. He is still a young player with his best years ahead of him and I am sure he will be a great addition to our squad from next season onwards."

Miller shown his quality when he scored three goals for Scotland in the two games against Italy and Norway in the World Cup qualifying stage, giving Nesta and Cannavaro a horrid time in the process showing he has the ability to play at the highest level. Kenny Miller will become one of the few post-war players to have performed for both sides of the Old Firm. Alfie Conn played for Rangers then Celtic, via Tottenham Hotspur, in the 1970s and infamous fellow forward Mo Johnston, more controversially, joined Rangers in 1989 from Nantes after publicly saying that he was to sign for a second time to Celtic.

The potential singing of Quinton Fortune is still on hold while Celtic assess the results of medical tests the player sat in Glasgow last week. The 29-year-old South African was recently released by Manchester United and would be available on a free transfer. The versatile left-sided player who can play both in defence and midfield has had his career disrupted by injury. Therefore the club will look to cover their backs and make sure there will be no future problems with Fortune. Fortune was alerted to Celtic by former team mate Roy Keane and was impressed with what he saw at the club. Fortune commented, "Celtic are one of the greatest clubs in the world - the history and passion around the place is unbelievable."

His agent Francis Martin believes that Celtic will make an offer for the player an offer in the next few days. He said, "He's interested in Celtic, he was impressed by the people there and the size of the club and that's why he is holding out. But we just want to sort out his future as soon as possible." The prospect of such an experienced player filling the troublesome left back position will excite many Celtic fans including myself. If the medical results come back without a hitch, this could be a great bit of business on Celtic’s part. Roy Keane once commented that he always picked Fortune for 5 a-sides at Man Utd because he always got “stuck in” and this is exactly the type of player we need at Celtic Park.

Michal Kadlec is another player on Strachan’s wish list for the summer. The 21 year old Czech left back is highly sought after and could be a major coup for Celtic if the signing goes through however in recent days the deal seems to have stalled due to a problem with the transfer fee involved. It has been reported that Celtic are not willing to meet Sparta Prague’s valuation if £2m for the player. Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell spoke publicly after returning from Prague over a week ago when he warned: "We'll look at other options, but we are a long way apart in valuations right now."

Michal Kadlec's representative hopes the left-back will become a Celtic player, despite a fee not yet being agreed with Sparta Prague. Speaking last week Pavel Zika told Czech newspaper Sport: "Celtic's interest is the strongest and it is not unlikely things will start moving during this week. We will talk with the representatives of Celtic in the coming days and the transfer could be realised." But as I write this the club are no further forward in the deal.

Sparta spokesman Lukas Pribyl is still waiting for Celtic to follow up on their initial interest in Kadlec. He said, "It is true that Celtic have been interested in signing Kadlec, but there has been no progress in this matter." It is an unfortunate situation as Kadlec has expressed his desire to join Celtic on several occasions, "The offer from Celtic pleased me and I think that every footballer wanted by such a club would be interested in playing for them. Celtic means a great atmosphere, superb fans and a sold-out stadium all the time." Kadlec has pleaded with Sparta not to price him out of a move to Scottish Champions. "I understand there is a problem over the transfer fee, but I hope Sparta will look for a fair price for me," he told the News of the World. Whatever happens, the potential transfer should play out to a conclusion in the near future.

Gordon Strachan has dropped his interest in Croatian playmaker Niko Kranjcar. A fee of four million euros’ had been agreed between the clubs before the goal posts were moved and their valuation increased to £4m. The player and his father, Zlatko Kranjcar who is the National Coach, was said to be extremely disappointed that the deal had collapsed due Hadjuk Split pricing Kranjcar out of the market. The Croatian would have been a potential replacement to want-away midfielder Stillian Petrov. It is believed that Celtic dropped their interest after watching the player play in a dismal 2-2 draw against Iran. The 21 year old looked overweight and unfit throughout the duration of the game and has come in for massive criticism from his homelands press, ending any hope the deal would go through.


The report is continued in part 2 due to the word limit in a single post:http://www.talkceltic.net/forum/showthread.php?p=159076#post159076

Murphy7