Neil Lennon has dismissed speculation that Celtic are on the brink of signing Sergio Quintero.
Earlier today a report from Ecuador claimed that a deal was likely to be concluded this week but that came as news to the Celtic boss when he was interviewed after tonight’s 3-1 win over FK Sarajevo.
Quintero caught the eye during the u-20 World Cup in Poland last month as Ecuador reached the semi-final with most of their squad looking to earn moves to Europe.
The 20-year-old would appear to fit the profile of younger players with potential to develop and sell on that Celtic have specialised in over recent seasons but that line of questioning came to a quick conclusion when it was put to Lennon in Bosnia tonight.
BBC Scotland: How are you getting on with Sergio Quintero, that looks promising as far as Celtic are concerned, by the sound of things.
Neil Lennon: I’ve never heard of him
BBC: Ecuadorian, pause, all right, OK. I’ll go back and do my research, maybe I’ve got his name wrong, I’ll have a look at that, how are you getting on with that?
NL: No that name hasn’t cropped up at all, sorry. No, all right, yeah
BBC: I’m getting duff information, I’m away over here.
NL: No he’s not popped up on the radar, we’re looking at a number of positions. I don’t think we can get things done sooner rather than later because the priority is to try and negotiate these qualifiers. The more quality we have the better our chances.
When a player goes public talking up a move to Celtic it rarely happens. We prefer the quiet approach.https://t.co/rYQ1vnoAip
— Joe McHugh (@videocelts) July 9, 2019
Celtic fell behind to a goal from Mirko Oremus after 29 minutes but were quickly back on level terms through a spectacular goal from Mikey Johnston.
After the break goals from Odsonne Edouard and Scott Sinclair clinched the match and turned next week’s second leg into a formality.
Three impressive goals. Enjoy.https://t.co/9KIuVUYDjp
— Joe McHugh (@videocelts) July 9, 2019
