Today promises to be one of the most dramatic ever in terms of transfer turnover at Celtic.
We’ve all read in the past about the big names poised to join the club only for them to peter away with Phillipe Senderos of Arsenal the most recent example.
This morning however there is a genuine freshness about a number of realistic targets with none of them currently playing for Hibs or Dundee United.
Transfer window’s are a notorious letdown but this time it looks like Celtic have been working diligently to uncover the type of players that will be interested in coming to the club rather than scouring the best of the SPL and attempting to recruit highly paid players from England.
Lessons seem to have been learned with negotiations to bring Edson Braafheid, Diomansy Kamara and Ivan Ramis at advanced stages.
The deals to bring Braafheid from Bayern Munich and Kamara from Fulham are both loans with Spanish defender Ramis a possible £2.5m signing from Real Mallorca.
Braafheid seems to be the deal closest to being concluded with the player and his agent arriving in Glasgow last night after turning down the chance to return to Holland with offers on the table from Ajax and PSV Eindhoven.
A loan deal until the end of the season should be a formality giving all sides the result that they require.
Braafheid has a place in Holland’s World Cup squad to target, if he achieves that aim it’s unlikely that he’ll be remaining at Celtic but a consistent reliable left back would be something of a novelty in that problem position.
Kamara, as a former West Brom striker, is clearly well known to Mowbray with his arrival likely to mark the exit for Scott McDonald.
The departure of the club’s most reliable goalscorer in mid season is something of a shock with all sorts of rumours flying around attempting to put two and two together.
Whatever has been going on in the background McDonald has never been anything less than totally professional in public and I wouldn’t be surprised if he does a Caldwell and backs out of an ill-advised move to the Celtic colony at Middlesbrough.
With four players already at Celticboro, Gary Caldwell at Wigan and Mark Brown moving to Hibs it’s certainly shaping up as a dramatic month.
Jos Hooiveld and Morten Rasmussen made an impact at Hamilton alongside Ki Sung Yeung who seems to be adapting very quickly to the demands of playing for Celtic.
The team that finished the match on Saturday contained only three outfield players that had featured under Strachan with Paul Caddis hardly figuring in Strachan’s plans.
Swindon had hoped to take Caddis on-loan until the end of the season but that looks unlikely with the player capable of playing in a number of positions as well as deputising for Andreas Hinkel.
Keep tuned in to NewsNow throughout the day for news on the comings and goings up and down Kerrydale Street, G40.
kamara first mate,Paul Slane second hopefully braafheid be next!!