Celtic have been linked with a move for Stephane Diarra by respected French publisher L’Equipe.
In June the same publication was first to comment on Celtic’s interest in Christopher Jullien with the defender joining the hoops from Toulouse for £7m.
Diarra is a midfielder at Second Division Le Mans with no transfer fee discussed in the report which also credits Leicester and Newcastle as scouting the 20-year-old.
L’Equipe report:
Stephane Diarra, the young midfielder of Le Mans (Ligue 2), is followed by two Premier League clubs. Leicester and Newcastle regularly oversee the 20-year-old Franco-Ivorian, who has scored twice this season in the league (10 starts). Celtic Glasgow, which has been regularly eyeing young Frenchmen for several seasons, is also following closely.
While the lure of joining an EPL club is obviously strong there is no doubt that Celtic is a very appealing option to young French players.
Moussa Dembele used two seasons in Glasgow to project his career forward with Olivier Ntcham having a dynamic first season before going off the boil.
Last night Odsonne Edouard scored his 11h goal of the season for the French u-21 side with the recovery in his career keenly watched by the French media.
For a number of years Celtic have been apparently looking for the next Scott Brown, during the summer a move for David Turnbull of Motherwell fell through with Diarra another midfield option.
