Celtic transfer rumours – 15/12/09

Latest potential ins and outs for the Hoops

Robbie Keane.
Just leaving that in there in an almost “Rumour Mill” type of way. Okay, its been said, lets move on to the rumours that are probably more likely.

Morten Gamst Pedersen
Currently at Blackburn and back in the starting line-up for Rovers away to Birmingham City. He is maybe not quite a Big Sam type of player and is in need of a fresh task. Lit up the EPL a few years ago with spectacular strikes but hasnt been featured much on MOTD in the past year. Apart from that moment against Arsenal.

Pedersen does not play in a position where Celtic are struggling at the moment but as he is out of contract in the Summer, her could be obtained for a good price. Would be a great addition to the squad but if funds are limited, the money could be used better elsewhere.

Olivier Giroud
WeKnowSFA ran with the story about this boy Celtic line up Giro last month and to be fair, nothing much has probably changed. It is said that his club will be more agreeable to a Winter transfer if the money is right but if it comes down to a bidding war, will Celtic be in the hunt?

Obviously the hoops will hope to offer a potential European place, big crowd and a chance of silverware but they should really be offering a passage to the big time. If Giroud or any other striker can come to Celtic and do well, the door to the riches of the English Premier League will be open wide for a player.

Giroud remarked;

“We’re now at a stage where a lot of thinking has to be done. There’s a lot of interest in me. Celtic and Middlesbrough are the most persistent, but there is also interest from Montpellier, Valenciennes, Monaco and Toulouse.”

Tomas Hubocan
Even with Dick Advocaat and Fernando Ricksen being involved at the club, Zenit St Petersburg will be one of Celtic fans favourite clubs. This is due to their 2-0 win over Rangers in the Uefa Cup final which was the pre-riot entertainment in Manchester 2008.

Agent talk is always interesting but here is what Hubocan’s agent had to say about potential Glasgow interest;

“Tomas has clubs looking at him from Germany, Italy and England. But when I mentioned Celtic, he was very interested. “I’ve been in contact with Celtic’s scouts and I’m now just waiting to hear if the club want to progress with a deal.””

With all these potential players coming in, you would expect one or two players to be heading out the door.

Willo Flood has opened his heart on what the Scottish media have no doubt termed as his Celtic Park hell but it has been hard to argue that Flood should have been involved more so far at Celtic. Obviously the manager sees what goes on at training and perhaps Flood has been unable to win over Tony Mowbray.

Flood said to the Irish Evening Herald;

“I think it’s fair to say that me moving to Celtic has not gone according to plan. I’m not involved, I’m not featuring and at this stage of my career I need to be playing regularly.”
“They will decide what I do, but it’s best that I go out on loan, at least, and see what happens then.”

Speculation also exists over whether Gordon Strachan will plunder his former club and when you consider the wretched start he has made to his Middlesbrough career, new recruits are becoming vital at the Riverside.

Gary Caldwell was always a favourite of Strachan, a right good team mate as the manager would say and with the stopper out of contract in the Summer, it would not be a surprise to see him reunited with his ex boss.

There have also been suggestions that Mark Wilson, Barry Robson or even Scott McDonald could be hitting the road to Middlesbrough.

Only the Australian striker would bring in any reasonable amount of money for Tony Mowbray but he should not even contemplate selling McDonald unless he can bolster his own forward line first.

Will any of these rumours come true?