Sevilla join race for Celtic defender van Dijk

UEFA Europa League winners Sevilla have joined the race for talented Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk from Celtic.

The Dutchman, who was one of the players of the season in the Scottish Premier League in his very first season in Scotland, is being chased by a host of clubs including Newcastle United as well as Southampton.

And now, Sevilla has thrown its name into the hat as potential suitors for the highly talented Dutchman and land one of the most in demand defenders in the world at the moment.

New Southampton boss Ronald Koeman has earmarked the classy centre back as his top defensive target if Dejan Lovren does force through his move to Liverpool in the coming days as is expected in the English media.

Fellow Premier League side Newcastle are also keen on adding the Dutchman to add much needed steel to their fragile backline but with Sevilla joining them in the list, Celtic will be hoping a transfer tug of war pushes the price of the player high enough to make a handsome profit on him.

The player, a Holland Under-21 international, is contracted with the Scottish giants till 2017 and they want to keep him at the club for at least one more season, but with a bidding war set to start at £ 6 million, it could be difficult for them to keep hold of the player.

Van Dijk joined Celtic for a paltry £ 2.6 million last season from FC Groningen and almost strolled through his first season in Scotland, adding a lot to his reputation.

Koeman is also desperate to add the Dutchman to his squad after being impressed by his performances and monitored his progress closely while he was the manager of Dutch superpowers Feyenoord, before joining Southampton as their new boss this summer.

Celtic Claims Third Consecutive Title

Having only suffered 1 loss in the entire season, Celtic claimed their 3rd consecutive league title. Aberdeen finished the campaign in 2nd place and they were behind Celtic by 27 points as Celtic cruised past everything in their path with Neil Lennon guiding the squad to a fairly comfortable league success.

The coach from Northern Ireland wants to improve the squad by signing new players into the team during the summer transfer window.

During the previous season, Neil Lennon saw some Gary Hooper, Victor Wanyama and Kelvin Wilson all leaving the club and the tactician wants to reinforce the squad for the upcoming season as well as avoid seeing some of his key players leaving the club.

“I think we do need to add depth to the squad for where I want to take the team. don’t want what happened last year. We basically sold the crown jewels in the space of three weeks. Whether the money’s there and we get the right type is another thing. We’re working on it obviously; I still think we need another couple of positions strengthened.” Lennon stated.

Amido Balde and Derk Boerrigter enjoyed playing their debut season with Celtic but Neil Lennon has not been impressed with their performances and announced that unless he can see significant improvements with Balde and Boerrigter he is willing on letting them go in the upcoming transfer window.

“Amido Balde and Derk Boerrigter need to improve dramatically if they’re going to make any sort of headway in the first team for next season. I want to improve the team and the squad and we will listen to offers for some players. I wouldn’t just single out any of those three or any of the other players really’’. Lennon added on.

Lennon has already revealed his intentions of adding into the squad, new players which can improve the team and this puts in risks the future of a number of players who have been underperforming such as Amido Balde and Derk Boerrigter.

CELTIC CROWNED AGAIN

Bayern Munich claimed themselves as the kings of Germany after winning the Bundesliga and despite having more than 4 matches left to be played in the season, it made no difference.

Juventus are clear favorites on winning the Italian league and it continues going on for some parts in Europe with some specific teams claiming dominance over their nearest rivals and this is also the case with Celtic. Continue reading “CELTIC CROWNED AGAIN”

NO COMPLACENCY

The manager of Celtic FC, Neil Lennon, has said that his players shouldn’t get complacent after having won the league title. He wants them to continue playing in the ruthless manner.

The Celts have absolutely blown away their opponents in the ongoing Scottish Premier League. They have already become the champions and they still have to play 7 more games. That tells a thing or two about the way they have performed this season.

Normally when the teams win the title so early, it’s become a bit hard for them to keep themselves motivated for the remaining part of the season, but, one thing that can keep the Celts motivated is the chance of setting a new record of securing the most number of points in a single season in the league.

The present record is also being held by Celtic. They had set that record way back in 2001-02 when they had managed to secure 103 points. But, they can easily go past that number this season if they maintain their form in the remaining matches.

Talking to the reporters about setting up new record, Lennon said, “If we do that, it will be great, but, the first target should be to get to 100. Then, we will see if we can get to 104 or not.”

“We can break the record of conceding the least number of goals as well.  Its 15 goals that we have conceded so far this season and the record is of 18 goals. So, we have a chance there as well.”

Celtic will be taking on Ross County on Saturday. They would like to continue their winning streak in that game. They have won their last 4 matches on the bounce and that too by big margins.

TO ENGLAND?

There has been constant talk of Scottish clubs being introduced into the English Premier league in order to improve the financial situation of the Scottish clubs.

The Premier league is one of the most watched leagues across the world and it generates a huge amount of money as television revenue. There is a vast difference between what the English clubs and the Scottish clubs receive as TV money. The only substantial TV money for Scottish clubs comes from the Champions League, which amounts to £ 30 million if they qualify for the group stages.

As a result, there has been talk of making the top Scottish clubs play in the English Premier league and one of the first participants is likely to be Celtic with their huge fan following. The proposal has also generated considerable amount of discontent, as it has led to the argument that other Scottish clubs will decline considerably if Celtic depart the Premier league. Celtic manager Neil Lennon, though, has stated that he will be one of the first persons to rejoice at the prospect of managing his club in the Premier league.

Lennon has done exceedingly well in the last few years and has even managed to take the club into the last 16 of the Champions league last season.

“The ideal scenario for me would be to manage Celtic in the Premier League but whether that will ever happen or not I don’t know. Maybe one day it will happen but at the minute we are content to keep going as we are. It’s just a nice thought. We all harbour ambitions to better ourselves and I’m no different from anyone else but I’ve got a big job on my hands at the minute. European football and winning championships is the driving force behind us,” said Lennon.