Very powerful looking legs on The Young Turk there.
I hope he is a success and isn’t the Nadir of our summer signings.
Van Dijk is reported to be meeting with Swansea today.
I saw some vague news on this last night but dismissed it as random rumours. Is this a real prospect? The timing is curious and leaves us in a massive hole.
Van Dijk is in the squad tonight anyway. Not starting, but I presume that’s related to his suspension next week.
15-year old footballers have agents and sponsorship deals now. 
Celtic beat five top English clubs to signature of Scottish Under-15 starlet Kieran McGrath
CELTIC have beaten off competition from five Barclays Premier League clubs to land one of Scottish football’s most promising young strikers.
Aston Villa, Everton, Newcastle United, Southampton and Stoke City were all keen to land Scotland Under-15 internationalist Kieran McGrath.
However, the Coatbridge youngster, whose father Hugh was on the books at Parkhead as a boy, opted to join the club he supports.
It is the fourth year in a row the Glasgow giants had attempted to land the 14-year-old, who has signed a two year deal, and they have finally got their man.
Elliott Fillingham, the Head of Youth at McGrath’s representatives ViolaFC, revealed why the centre forward had opted to go to the Scottish champions.
He said: “Celtic offer a compelling development programme for Kieran with the additional hours of practice and coaching at their school initiative at St Ninian’s.
“The number of international tournaments and the additional exposure that comes with playing for a massive club like Celtic will help Kieran reach the next level in his career.”
McGrath is one of only two age-group players in Scotland who are sponsored by adidas – the other is 18-year-old Celtic winger Aiden Nesbitt.
The Braidhurst High pupil has played for Hibs for the last seven years and scored five goals in a match against Newcastle United last season.
He said: "I’m absolutely delighted to sign for Celtic and I’m looking forward to the next chapter in my career. Celtic was the right club for me and it’s a dream come true”
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Amido Balde has joined Metz in the French second tier. No mention of a fee - wouldn’t surprise me if Celtic simply let him leave on a free:
http://m.stv.tv/sport/football/1323741-amido-balde-leaves-celtic-for-french-ligue-2-side-metz/
Linked with Jonathan Mensah again today. Seems highly unlikely we’d spend €3.5m on a player who is suspended for 4 months.
Reports reaching GhanaFans.com indicates that Ghana defender Jonathan Mensah is close to signing a bumper €3.5 million deal to join Scottish giants Celtic.
Mensah who is currently a free agent looking for a club has reportedly been linked to Celtic FC and held talks over the weekend with officials of The Bhoys.
The 25-year old defender is currently on a four months ban by the Court of Arbitration Soccer (CAS) after they found him guilty of irregularities in his transfer from Udinese to Evian Thonon Gaillard in 2011.
A source close to the player was quoted as saying: “Celtic are still interested in Jonathan despite this ban by the CAS. They want to have him, so this ruling is just a temporary setback.”
Celtic coach Ronny Deila is keen on adding Mensah to his squad to augment his setup ahead of the upcoming SPL season. The player has since followed Celtic’s official account confirming that the move is nigh.
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##Celtic show interest in ADO Den Haag’s Michiel Kramer
Representatives of Celtic were present during ADO Den Haag’s friendly with FC Veria on Saturday to run the rule over the striker, who was third top scorer in the Eredivisie last season with 17 goals.
The 26-year-old was supposed to join UAE side Baniyas earlier this summer, but despite personal terms and a fee being agreed, the move broke down after ADO Den Haag failed to receive the money for the transfer.
ADO Den Haag director Jan Willem Wigt has stated that he will sit down with Kramer this week to discuss his future, but should the striker decide he still wants to leave then Celtic could make their move. Feyenoord have also been mentioned as a possible destination, but they would have to sell one of their forwards first before any move.
I’m happy enough with our strikers at the minute, Griffiths has done really well over the past 12 months and looks like his game is still improving, I like Ciftci and I’d still harbour hopes for Scepovic.
Left back, centre back and a holding midfielder should be our priorities.
Agreed. There were rumours today that Stokes might be leaving. And I guess we’re not sure that Scepovic will still be around. So if either or both of them go then we might be interested. We’ve played Griffiths wider a couple of times in pre-season and Ciftci can play off a striker so it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility that we’re looking for someone but I’m flagging it as unlikely for now anyway.
Luca Antonini?
Jackson Irvine has left Celtic and signed for Ross County. I’ve fond memories of him trampling all over the Liverpool first team midfield in the Aviva Stadium a couple of summers ago.
Have you seen his hair recently?
I have.
Craig Gordon has signed a new contract. His new deal runs to 2018.
English media reporting Southampton have bid £8m for Van Dijk.
That’s at least 50% too low I think. And it’s also the wrong time to be selling. Can’t see us accepting anything other than a ridiculous bid until we’re through/out of the Champions League qualifying.
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They also just sign Caulker on loan so they are hardy looking for another centre back
Stokes is linked with Burnley today.
I’m unsure where I stand on Stokes. He has loads of ability and is effective when he’s playing beside a more natural striker so he can drift off him. He had a great partnership going with Hooper for a while but could never manage to strike up anything similar with Samaras or anyone.
He’s not really suited to our team anymore, and to most modern formations sadly. He is ok out on the left but hasn’t the pace to be a real genuine wide threat and he’s not a great defender - to be fair that’s not his game. He gets lost when he’s playing as a sole central striker, just won’t be in the box often enough as he likes to drop off.
Wouldn’t like to see him leave for a pittance and Boerrigter or someone staying but I don’t see much future for him at Celtic. Doesn’t seem to be part of Ronny’s plans at all anymore, wonder if his disciplinary issue at the end of last season sealed his fate.
Stokes was playing very well last year until he picked up an injury and lost his place to Armstrong after the Inter debacle. No point in keeping him if he’s not rated by the manager but at the same time you can look at how Commons and Griffiths managed to work their way in Ronny’s plans after his initial misgivings about them. There’s no doubt about his ability for me and he gives that bit of creativity and unpredictability that I don’t think we get from any of the other players - it’s just hard to see him getting his break unless we have an injury crisis. At the minute he looks to be behind GMS, Armstrong, Forrest, McGregor, Commons and Henderson for a position. I don’t think he is at all effective as the lone striker in our current system and his natural position would be on the left hand side of attack.
I’d be disappointed to see him leave, he’s been a really good player for us over the recent years.