Stefan Johansen is expected to sign for Celtic in the next 48 hours in a £2m deal from Stromsgodset.
The midfielder turned 23 last week and has the impressive pedigree of most recent Celtic signings having been involved in international football since the age of 15.
Signing a creative midfielder has been a high on Neil Lennon’s wanted list with Johansen’s range of passing from midfield catching the eye.
Stromsgodset manager Ronnie Deila said: “There has been so much speculation about Stefan but it seems now he’ll get his move and it’s much deserved.
“I’m proud I have been allowed to work and develop him as a player. He’s the first player from Stromsgodset who has been good enough to get into the national team of Norway.
“He has kept improving since he got here. He has intensity in his defensive work from midfield and is calm with the ball – he has vision few others have.
“He’s blessed with a natural passing ability and was a creative factor in our team. He’s also a winner.”
Last year was undoubtedly a pivotal one in Johansen’s development as he earned the title of Norway’s Player of the Year and starred for Norway in the finals of the u-21 European Championships.
Norway had to overcome France in a play-off to reach the finals where they were drawn alongside Italy, England and hosts Italy.
A 3-1 win over England coupled with draws in the other two matches helped Norway to second place behind Italy, in the semi-final they lost 3-0 to eventual winners Spain.
Those performances earned Johansen a place in the full international side where he scored on his debut against Sweden in August.
While his international career was kicking off Johansen’s form helped Stromsgodset to win the 2013 Norwegian championship.
With just two goals from 27 league appearances the new bhoys main attribute is his range of passing with his left foot the main supplier of goals for Stromsgodset as shown in the video below.
The next step in his career will be in the hoops with the prospect of Champions League football the main attraction.
“Obviously, it’s Champions League,” he answered last night about the appeal of Celtic. “They are leading the Scottish Premiership, so it is a big attraction. I’m a passing player and Celtic try to play that way. If all goes to plan, I will have the medical and I’m very happy if it works out.”
G/ day Joe,
Could Johansen be the creative force we
so badly need ?
Coming from Strom(godset), is he God sent to play for the Hoops ?
I like what his manager their says about
him,” he has a vision few others have, and
is a winner.”
Unlike our recent signings, he sounds as if
he would be a confident player.
At 1.5/2 M,with a year left on his contract,
he could turn out to be a real bargain.
Now for a quality striker.
Luuk de Jong,at Borussia M,would be a
sensation for us.
Like the sound ov this guy. Rosenborg hav monopolised that league for a long time, so to sign the best player in the league playing for a smaller club is good vision and a decent price..
Can see him in the premiership in a few years going for treble what we paid for him.
as for a striker…..id like to know how much hull bid for jelavic. Couldnt argue that he would do a job. If we hav the 6m defoe wud hav been amazing shame hes toronto bound. Other than that id like to see danny ings frm Burnley or push the boat out and make sunderland an offer for fletcher.
Pjdivo,
Re strikers.
Fletcher,5 years too late.Don’t rate him
now.Defoe couldn’ afford wages.
Ings would be ideal,but Burnley won’t let
him go.
Top Celtic will pay is 30-35 k, per week.
Troy Deeney at watford is a good target
man.As I said de Jong at Borussia M, is a
goallscorer.
There are strikers out their, NO EXCUSES
if PL does not get a quality striker in, in this window.
,
Rosenborg have only won two titles since 2007, they’re hardly monopolising the Norwegian league are they? In fact Johansen’s club are current champions.
I agree Peter, he does look a confident player, comfortable on the ball. Great to have him now, to allow him time to settle in before the Champions League qualifiers. Looks like thats where he will perform better, given more time on the ball to pick a pass. Won’t get so much time on the ball in Scotland, and will not get much protection from the referees here .
Hopefully all goes well today with his medical.
Keep the Faith
HH
Peter
What experience do u have signing players in s transfer windiw from international clubs ?
Agogo,
I am no Einstein.
But, like every Celtic fan, on Joe’s blog we
are entitled to our opinion.
Yes, I have no transfer experience.But I do
kmow, finance.
I also watch European football, and you
know a good playef when you see one.
Financially, our club are in a great position, to sign a few quality players.
Players we need for CL qualifiers.
Sorry if I annoyed you, Einstein Agogo.
Peter – you are living in cloud cuckoo land. Just an opinion!
Fhox,
What do you.mean ?
Give us your words of wisdow ?
If all you want to say, is to be insulting
and negative, why post ?
Plonker !!
I agree with peter.
But wise man once say.
Respect what you’ve got and what you’ve got will respect you.
So time to give pukki, boerrigter and balde a chance.
Wise man once say don’t sell your caravan until your house is built.
Haw haw haw
Regarding the striker issue. I honesty feel that Balde has the potential to be outstanding, he’s a raw gem at the moment but from the numerous sub appearances and the Antalya cup it’s blatant that the bhoys got abundant talent, just lacks confidence. Pukki I see as more of an attacking midfield player the boy has goals but he is also a bit of a playmaker.
No point is spunking £6M of the likes if injury prone Fletcher!
The leagues won, Neil should be looking at giving these 2 boys as much time together as possible with Pukki playing a Commons role just behind big Amido!
Johnson looks like he’s got a touch of class & good vision HH
I really don’t know what to make of Balde. He doesn’t look all that good in the air (yet) for such a big guy, but then he’s deceptively fast. As much as I have enjoyed his goals against Liverpool and Trabzonspor, I’m reluctant to read too much into them since they were friendlies — he had all the time in the world to hit that 25 yarder the other night.
I work with a prominent member of Partick Thistle’s supporters club, he’s involved in boardroom dealings. He reckoned Thistle were taking Balde on loan, but decided on Lyle Taylor instead. Not sure how much truth there is in that, though.
So where does commons play if pukki is playing in his position doesn’t seem sensible to drop commons to accommodate for a player who wasn’t even signed for that position in the hope that he will come good we need a striker not another commons
I would love to see a big name striker come to Celtic in his 20s and be at the club for years, helping us into the group stages and paying back the money we signed him for. I think that Balde and especially Pukki can be very good players for Celtic in future though, so with the future covered wouldn’t mind Celtic bringing in a 30 year old to score goals for the next two seasons, be the figurehead of the attack and help in the development of the two strikers and Tony Watt. Janko has struggled with injuries recently, but if there was a deal that was tailored him being paid to play, the Austria captain could tick a lot of boxes.
P.S. I would still prefer Finnbogason and think it would be money well invested. Griffiths would be a mistake. He doesn’t show up for 80 minutes a game. It is not what we need.
I can’t see Celtic being able to afford Finnbogasson when other European clubs are also interested. I wouldn’t want to play in the SPL if I had suitors from England, Germany, Turkey and Italy. It’s a different climate and Celtic are in a different situation than the time we were able to pluck big Pierre from the Dutch league. I think we’ve been both very clever and lucky in getting big Virgil Van Dijk to Parkhead on that note. Defoe will get something like a $4.7 million contract at Toronto, so it’s quite obvious that he was out of our price range. As for Griffiths and Doyle, we’ve got Stokes. I don’t see how they improves on him. Like a lot of recent signings, I think a new striker may come from more emerging markets like Israel, Australia or maybe from a Scandinavian club (not Mo Bangura!). Maybe even Romania, now that they’re part of the EU.
I would like to see Tony Watt get the same chances that Pukki and Stokes get. Pretty poor record from both of them this season. Perhaps Pukki will come good, but we know what we can get from Stokes. Maybe Watt’s attitude is really that bad, who knows? I still think he’s worth a shot.
Finnbogason is playing for a mid table dutch side. They are flying high in fifth just now largely due to his goal tally ( he has 17 of the clubs 42 league goals (40%) which gives the club a goal difference of +10). PSV have had a dreadful start to the season also, but will strengthen in the window which should see Herenveen slip down the table a little. That would mean UEFA football is not guarenteed.
The Dutch league is not a great league for the most part and Celtic have shown that they can compete with their best. Finnbogason who has said that he follows Celtic would then have the opportunity to play at Parkhead every other week, plus Champions League football.
You were saying it is a different time to that in which we ‘plucked’ Van Hooijdonk from the Dutch league. Ajax won the Champions League the year he signed and we were facing bankruptcy only the year before, so I think or situation is comparatively better now than then.
Celtic paid good money for Hooijdonk to get him from Breda who were a mid table team at the time and there is no reason that if they got the finger out and placed a genuine offer that it could not be accepted. For all the talk of interest I have not heard of any offers but Celtic’s.
To put it simply if Milan are interested in Finnbogasson, then he’ll go to Serie A before the SPL. Regardless of European competition
like I said £40,000 per week gets you hee-haw these days
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/early-doors/stoke-striker-fined-80-000-texting-boss-no-150155365.html
Even if Milan are interested he won’t go anywhere unless his club agrees a free with them. No fee has been agreed. The player was interested before in joining.
The club should base it’s transfer policy about identifying the best targets and going for them, not tabloid conjecture.
That would depend on a number of factors wouldn’t it? In the bloated pay structure of the EPL it is a drop in the ocean, but you had mentioned previously looking to the emerging markets, which surely defeats your point.
wasn’t tabloid conjecture, I just spoke to mate Clarence Seedorf there, they definitely want Finnbogasson
Mick,
Given the choice,I would rather have Lyle
Taylor than Balde.
Yes,we have missed the boat on Finnbogasson.Thank tight- fisted PL for
that one.
For me,Stokes,Pukki and Balde are not good enough for CL.Or the qualifiers, for
that matter.
Mick,
pretty sure Rosenborg hav won plenty ov titles in norway. 8 out ov the last 10. In any case I was complimenting johansens current club and his own achievments on stopping rosenborgs monopoly ov their league. I remember stopping 10 in a row feeling prety damn good.
and if ledley and sami go, dnt see how we cnt spend 40k on wages on someone like defoe. (Granted hes toronto bound) but someone with that pedigree.
If we grab the league by the balls now itl be 10 in a row.
I think they monopolised the league in the past much like the way Rangers (RIP) did, but since 2006 it’s been a very competitive league with four or five different winners. Solskjaer got Cardiff job because he won the league with Molde.
I would love Celtic to sign a 40k a week striker but I can’t see it, breaking the hallowed wage structure. Besides 40k a week only gets you a average premier league striker these days. We need to go down the Hooper route again but clubs are wise to us now down in England (see lee Tomlin). Tough market conditions to work in.
What I will say is the Celtic I grew up with always had a star striker, even in the dark times. I don’t think we have one at the moment
yeah just checked the Tippeligaen past winners. Rosenborg have won it 4 times in the last 10 years, with Strømsgodset, Molde, Brann , Vålerenga and Staebak also winning it in that period. Rosenborg did do 12 in a row between 1992-2004, though. So you could say they’ve won 16 titles out of the last 22!
G /Day Mick,
It must be pick on Mick day, it was my
turn yesterday.
I agree, re- strikers.
Tony Watt has more to offer than Stokes,
Pukki ot Balde.
We desperately need 2 quality strikers.
I can’t see Celtic paying more than 35k
a week.
The English Championship is.our best
bet.You know what your buying their.
Having nobody filling our prised No. 7
is a sad state of affairs.
Ha! Didn’t realise I was being picked on. I can be naive that way…..
There’s definitely a striker(s) out there for us. But it has to be on our terms, not just splashing out money because the fans demand a big name. Such strategies have failed in the past.
Pity there wasn’t another mick to pick on
Then it would be
PICK N MIX
haw haw haw
Drawkcab,
That was one of your better jokes.
All your jokes, seem to evolve around
food and drink ?
Is that a cab driver train of thought ?
I bet (ian black,has already took a wager),you promised your wife you
would go on a New Year diet !!
Cheers
Billy McKay and Carlton Cole for me.
Wee guy/Big guy, both goal scorers can’t go wrong????
Hail hail
Peter
Its a cab driver hackney of thought
Haw haw haw.
Ian black will become a taxi driver when he retires.
Driving a black hacknyeah.
Haw haw haw.