Andreas Hinkel is ready to take a pay-as-you-play deal to prove his fitness.
The defender is training on his own back home in Stuttgart after completing his Celtic contract and is hoping to get fixed up with a Bundesliga club.
Hinkel missed the whole of last season due to a cruciate ligament injury but is eager to prove that he is back to his best
“My fitness is 100 percent,” he told The Frankfurter. “For me it’s not about money. I am a free transfer and would take a totally performance-based contract. The club would have no risk with me.”
Hinkel joined Celtic in January 2008 from Seville for £2m and won an SPL medal in his first season at the club.
He added: “ I’ll be happy to talk to any Bundesliga club. It’s an exciting league to be involved in and I’d be happy to discuss an offer with any of the so-called smaller clubs.”
Despite his laid back approach to the game the German famously upset Walter Smith after Celtic defeated Rangers 2-1 in Neil Lennon’s first derby match in charge.
Before the clash Hinkel had claimed that Celtic had a better team than Rangers- comments that infuriated the normally diplomatic Smith.
The Rangers boss said: “Andreas Hinkel said in the paper the other day that Celtic are the better team.
“If he sits down and he analyses what he said then you’ve got to say why does he think they are a better team than Rangers when Rangers have won six trophies over a three-year period and reached a European final and Celtic have won two?
“He must feel then, that if they are the better team, something is wrong. It might be if they had shown the same attitude as they showed in the first half of the game tonight, they might have been in a far better position.
“He has got to ask himself that question. If he sits down and says that Celtic are a better team than Rangers, he should ask himself if he’s proud of the way they have played over the last few seasons because I’m certainly proud of the way my team has played and my team has something tangible to show for it at the end.
“I can’t understand why any professional doesn’t take a good look at himself first before saying Celtic are a better team than Rangers because it’s patently obvious that they are not and haven’t been.
“Maybe it’s simply because of their approach and their attitude to the game, that Neil Lennon is now bringing out in them but if it takes a manager to bring it out in you, then you are looking at a poor set of professionals.”
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The normally diplomatic Smith? Must be a different Smith from the one who had to name a linesman for having the surname Murphy and had every journalist from the press terrified to ask him any questions on tactics, team selection or anything negative to do with the stinkbombs
wtf is mr dignity on about now-ffs neil took celtic to 2 games from the trble in his rookie year-lenny was also the one celtic manger who had smiths number-our points tally wouldve won the title in nearly every other season,also in the head to heads lenny owned the stupid auld basar-i reckon neil will put mccoist n them ,in there level-(under us)
Can fully understand the Andy Hinkel article Joe…
but to give Nosurname a mention at all ?? tut tut….
this guy was…is ….and always will be an arse!!
can you imagine Lenny made a similar remark about a HUN!
Laugherty has made nothing less than outragious and inflamatory IMO racist seectarian remarks to a man who’s family are living under constant fear! The d**** O***** B****** had nothing to say then!
DESPICABLE BAS*****!