LUCA CONNELL was confirmed as a Celtic player on Saturday but while the club were confirming the signing the defensive midfielder was already heading to Austria to join up with his new teammates.
The deal was all but done the day the picture emerged with Luca and his representatives trackside at Celtic Park last week. The formalities couldn’t be completed until Bolton had took their own legal advice on the player’s contract situation. Once they had conceded they couldn’t hold onto Luca the club did confirm Celtic paid above what they needed to for the scouser.
Mail Sport have confirmed the club paid around £350k for the player instead of the FIFA mandatory £200K+.
Speaking to MailSport, Neil Lennon said: ‘Luca is a young player and we like the talent,’
‘He will be a welcome addition to the squad – he is bubbly and a good footballer.
‘He did some good things in a short space of time at Bolton.’
Luca maybe 18, but if he can prove he is good enough to get into this Celtic side, the Irishman would not hesitate to put him into the mix.
We could see both Luca and Jullien make their debuts tonight as Celtic take on St Gallen in Switzerland in the final game of their tour before heading back to Lennoxtown to prepare for Sarajevo in just over a weeks time.
It looks that way a bargain buy…