Celtic are closing in on a deal to sign Jozo Simunovic.
The 21-year-old has been identified to replace Virgil van Dijk but Dinamo Zagreb refused to consider a deal ahead of the Champions League play-off’s.
Despite seeing off Albanian side Skenderbeu on a 6-2 aggregate Dinamo have been back in talks with Celtic over a deal for Simunovic.
One Croatian source has claimed that an €8m deal has been agreed but the upfront figure is likely to be closer to €6m  which would be the highest transfer fee paid by Celtic since Scott Brown arrived from Hibs in 2007.
Negotiations are believed to be at advanced stage with Celtic confident of completing the deal tomorrow without any last minute transfer dramas.
Simunovic has been a regular in the Dinamo defence over the last two seasons and has picked up four Croatian under-21 caps having been capped at every age group from u-16 upwards.
With van Dijk about to head for England, Simunovic will form a new look central defensive partnership with Dedryck Boyata and is pencilled in to make his Celtic debut at Aberdeen a week on Saturday.
With Tyler Blackett joining Saidy Janko and Boyata Deila is close to having a completely reshaped defence from the one that he inherited from Neil Lennon.
Speaking yesterday about the loan deal for Blackett the Celtic boss said: “Tyler will bring quality. He’s a good player, a young player and has experience playing for Manchester United. He really wanted to come and play for Celtic and he’ll be a good signing.
“He can play centre-back and left-back so we’ll see what his best position will be in September.”
Celtic are also in talks with Inverness Caley Thistle to sign Ryan Christie.
Its a manager we need! It is very clear that no matter how diplomatic the players are, there is no respect for Deila. Get that idiot back to Norway!
I think you’re the idiot!
Joe isn’t intelligent enough to be an idiot.
Some interesting deals in the pipeline…
Get a grip Joe
how do you work that out, amazing how nothing like this is ever brought up when we win but when we lose people like you turn into the daily record and drag up awe the auld lines about players and managers not gettin on.1 defeat (bad as it was), we are not champions league material but still a decent team trying to play decent football. if we go on run like last season these inane lack of proof comments will disapear until we lose 1 game then the’ll resurface again. been hearing same guesswork comments regarding every celtic manager in my lifetime except the great Mr stein and martin O’niell
if this turns out to be true, someone better call for a paramedic for peter as he must have swelling in the brain… 6 million euros.. seriously…6 million euros.. the man must be ill
Dyna,
If this is true, I will be well impressed!
too right monti….surprised and impressed..never thought we would ever spend that type of cash on a player….now whats the chance of spending the same on a striker…might as well go for it while peter is feeling a bit off
Away and boil yer heid ya total Sevco daftie. Ronnie is great!
Could Ronny be moving away from his rigid system ?
Here’s hoping !
3-5-2 as opposed to his sterile 4-2-3-1 ?
Blackett on the left,Simunovic central,and Boyata on the right ?
This would allow Izzy to do what he does best,play as an attacking wing back.When Janko gets up to speed he could be our attacking wing back on the right.
Has Ronny the confidence to switch to this more attacking style of play,but also provides solidity at the back ??
Holy sea,
There can be no place in the team for Izzy m8, I would sell him asap and develop Tierney.
So who would you have in a 352 ? Obviously no room for the likes of Forrest or maybe even Mackay Steven ?
If we strengthen the squad from players desperate to leave, then well done Celtic.
Glasgow Celtic 1888 UNBROKEN !
HH
Tiocfaidharla!
Monti
If we do hit 10 in a row, I’ll be pissed for a month, our day will have come, but I’ll know really no what day it is !
HH
Sounds really good and it’s good to be going after quality. Hopefully still to sign a top class striker too.
I just wish all the idiot fans would shut the fuck up, they are an embarrassment to Celtic……..keep the faith we will only get better and better.
Ewanbhoy,
Our fans aren’t idiots, they just have different opinions.
But we all have a Celtic heart!
Idiots because they don’t agree with your opinion? You obviously hold yourself in high regard. Ronnie has 1 system that does not work in Europe against better quality teams and has no idea how to change tactics when the team is struggling in games.
He has failed on three different occasions to make the CL and in those ties Celtic had the lead at some point. Blown opportunities.
In the Europa League we were played off Celtic Park by both Salzburg and Zagreb. So maybe these “idiots” just expect more of Celtic. Our record and performances in Europe (barring the comeback against Inter and Salzburg away)under Ronnie are poor at best if it wasn’t for Astra being so bad it would have been a complete disaster last year.
Leave joe alone still on medication will be better soon like the sound of this only wait till done and dusted then celebrate HH
First time oan. When NL bolted he did leave a poor team behind no even fit for europa league never mind CLwas it 6-2 Barca. RD has brought some excitement back to park head with a few bucks I agree wi monti,give the guy some dosh tae spend and let him get oan wi his job and in 4 months I trust the team will be in Europe beyond Xmas. Hail Hail
So joe is an idiot because he doesn’t agree with you guys.
Sorry but Ronnie has failed to get through against two of the worst teams I have witnessed at celtic park recently.
On top of that we had to rely on other results in the last games of the Europa league to get through as we couldn’t do it ourselfs.
I gave Ronnie the benefit of the doubt in his first season but I’m afraid he is out of his depth at Celtic. It’s hard for me to say that as I hate saying anything negative about our club as the media take great glee in that. He is a good guy probably a great coach but he is out of his depth as manager of Celtic Football Club.
Hail Hail
Naw he isnae
Jimmy,
Joe is an idiot because he called Celtic supporters idiots, not because he has a different viewpoint.
First timer too, but a regular reader.
@joe aye right! What a knee jerk comment, pathetic really. @holy sea, 3.5.2, I was thinking the same watching the Malmo game, switch formation and push on. RD is rigid in his formation and loves his way, but v Malmo, I was seriously hoping that he’d go for it. Maybe he will in the future so long as he knows players are capable. Maybe given the versatility of Blackett, Janko and this lad we’re linked with, that’s the plan.
I’m a big fan of RD, hoping he’s given a real good opportunity and not tossed aside based on a few poor results. As much as we’d love to,we cant win all the time, but a reaction from the board showing RD the door would be poor form. Harston was on twitter predicting he’d beshown the door if we lost to Malmo, bad from big John imo
@monti, love the quote,
” Our fans aren’t idiots, they just have different opinions.
But we all have a Celtic heart”
HH
Welshboy,
Cheers m8,
We are all Celtic supporters with different outlooks and thoughts, this is a healthy thing.
We all want Celtic to prosper HH!
Disagree with jimmy bee.
Got a feeling RD will prosper once all his boxes are ticked and everything he needs are in place. Jeez even Fergie didn’t win every game but his record speaks for itself. IMO, spoilt under MON and people expect the same level each time, the games changed so much, none more so than cash. Less of it too spend and having to cast the net far and wide to get the best for as little as possible. Not just v Malmo, the whole games changed. Who knows what RD is asking for and being told no, carry on, keep looking. It’s not just Ronny making decisions
HH.
Welshbhoy I respect your view m8 we were indeed spoilt under MON we punched above our weight with wee Gordon and Lenny as the money for players has dried up.
The players we have should be able to cope with Marbor and Malmo.
In my opinion a Lenny or strachan would have got us through only my humble opinion.
I hope you are right I really do and hope that we are in Europe after xmas and Ronnie proves me wrong.
Hail Hail
nice to see activity onwards and upwords