Ronny Deila has spoken out about Celtic’s connections with Manchester City.
The most obvious link is on the park where Jason Denayer and John Guidetti have been the two loan signings that have made the biggest impact.
Denayer has been branded a £10m defender by the Celtic boss while talks are underway about making Guidetti’s loan deal permanent at the end of the season.
Deila will find himself up against Roberto Mancini in February when Celtic take on Inter Milan in the Europa League with the Inter boss providing the link between the champions of Scotland, England and Norway.
“He is a great manager, he gets good results and is very structured and especially very good in his defensive work, Deila explained about Mancini. “It was a great experience, he had an answer for every question I had. He is very clear on how he wants to play football, now he wants to build a culture of winning.
“It is so important to get references from the highest level and what the best are doing. Manchester City are one of the biggest clubs, maybe the biggest now in the world. I talked a lot with the staff there, I had a talk with Mancini and also a very good talk with Patrick Vieira, who I have big respect for.”
Inter are expected to strengthen their strike force during the January transfer window but a loan deal for Liverpool’s Mario Balotelli has been dismissed as unlikely by vice president Javier Zanetti.
