Neil Lennon has dropped a strong hint that Mo Elyounoussi will make his Celtic debut at Hamilton tomorrow.
It’s not often that the arrival on loan of a player that cost £16m a year ago goes unnoticed but arriving between a Europa League play-off and Glasgow derby meant that the Norwegian got minimal attention.
After impressing at Molde the 25-year-old, mainly known as a winger, hit an impressive rate of better than 1 goal in every 3 matches for Basel over two seasons which earned him his £16m move to Southampton.
After failing to score in eight EPL starts last season Southampton were content to send him to Celtic for a season with the English side enjoying the benefits of signing Fraser Forster, Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dijk from the hoops.
This time the traffic is from south to north with Lennon excited by what he has seen in Elyounoussi.
Asked about the loan signing at today’s media conference the Irishman told Celtic TV:
He is a bit different, he can play right, off the striker or left. He’s smart, he has a goal in him, he’s a good player and I think that he just adds to the quality that we already have and obviously with Michael being out, who has been our starting left sided winger, then Mo is in contention for a starting place.
With a loan fee and EPL wages to be part funded it would be a surprise if Elyounoussi was behind Lewis Morgan and Jonny Hayes in the queue to face Hamilton.