17th July
Joos Valgaeren is believed now to be a target of David O'Leary's. Celtic thus appear are unlikely to gain the Belgian internationals signing with their current bid of £3.75million. I saw Belgium play against Italy and their defence looked far from secure even in a home venue. Although Celtic clearly require a major defensive signing (or two) I agree with Martin O'Neills stance that he will not be held to ransom over the player. Saturdays's game may give Martin the chance to look at former hoops target Nisa Saveljic.

July 14th
Concern is growing over the quality of Celtic defender Rafael Felipe Scheidt. In Celtics two pre-season games he has been exposed as flat-footed and been responsible for a number of the goals conceded. The Barnes/Dalglish investment of nearly £5 million is looking somewhat suspect.

Celtic are poised to make a second major summer signing. Martin O'Neill has confirmed an interest in bringing Aston Villa's left sided midfielder Alan Thompson to Parkhead. Celtic will be looking for good wide players in order to provide their £6 million striker with the kind of service he enjoys. Thompson is available at around £2.5 million and has publically stated that he would love to join the 'Tic

John Robertson, Martin O'Neills assistant at Leicester City and teammate at Nottingham Forest will be moving to Celtic Park in the next week. The coach was released by Leicester City, this obviously raises questions over hte future of Tommy Burns, perhaps he might move to work with the youth squad and development, it is unlikely that Steve Walford, O'Neills other assistant at Leicester. will follow Robertson into a post at Celtic Park

July 11th
Chris Sutton has finally put pen to paper and signed a five year deal at Celtic Park. The 27 year old had a very ordinary season at Chelsea after his £10million move from Blackburn Rovers only a year ago. This is Martin O'Neills first signing and represents a major gamble on his part committing a large portion of his spending funds to one player who has failed to perform in recent years. However we beleive that Sutton could prove to be a massive hit at Parkhead and that he is a very suitable striking partner for Henrik Larsson.

Double good news from Celtic superstar Henrik Larsson. Firstly the Swede was keen to end rumours that he might be moving to the Premiership and then moved on to say that he is feeling very close to 100% fitness..

Celtic's interest in Belgian defender Joos Valgaeren appears to be waining, Martin O'Neill is not prepared to meet FC Roda's asking price of £4.5 million. O'Neill may instead make a move for Norweigen Bjorn Otto Bragstad although it appears that a deal for this player may already have been done by Derby County

Celtic have German under-18 international Thomas Hitzlsperger on trial for two weeks. The youngster has been released by Bayern Munich and has been picked out by Tommy Burns as having potential. The German played as a left back in Celtic's friendly against FC Copenhagen. Most reports indicating that he appeared superior to Celtic's £5million Brazillian defender Rafael.

Email: sundayceltic@yahoo.com