Celtic have agreed a fee of £1.2million with Standard Liege for striker Tony Watt and are bracing themselves for a double bid from Southampton for prized assets Fraser Forster and Virgil van Dijk. The deal for Watt was thrashed out late last night and the player will fly to Belgium this morning to discuss personal terms and undergo a medical. The talented 20-year-old striker had a loan spell at Liege’s rivals Lierse last season during which time he impressed with eight goals for Stanley Menzo’s team. He also had several well-publicised bust-ups with Menzo when the coach questioned the Scotland under-21 international’s attitude, but his on-field ability ultimately caught the eye of Liege. They are keen to push the deal through today as they have a Champions League qualifier against Greek side Panathinaikos this week and want Watt registered for that clash before tonight’s deadline. Watt shot to fame in 2012 when he scored for Celtic in their 2-1 Champions League victory against Barcelona at Parkhead – just months after Neil Lennon signed him from Airdrie for £80,000. Lennon then sent him on loan to Belgium for regular top-team football but the player had hoped to kick-start his Celtic career under new boss Ronny Deila. Deila wanted to sign Watt last season for Stromsgodset but couldn’t get the deal done in time before the Norwegian transfer window closed. Watt played for the Hoops in their 1-0 defeat at the weekend to German club St Pauli. Now, barring any unforeseen last minute hitches with Liege today, that will be his last appearance for the Scottish champions. Southampton meanwhile have cash to burn after the sales of Dejan Lovren to Liverpool and Calum Chambers to Arsenal and are poised to retrun for goalkeeper Fraser Forster after an initial bid was rejectd by Celtic last week. They are also keen on central defender van Dijk who was a stand-out success for the Scottish champions last season. HH -PP-
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 00:06:08 +0000
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