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McGeady: New five-year deal

Our priority has always been to try and keep our best players at the club.

Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell
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Aiden McGeady has signed a new five-year contract with Scottish champions Celtic.

The 22-year-old, who was voted Scotland's Player of the Year by his fellow professionals last season, helped Celtic retain their SPL title last term.

McGeady's talents have not gone unnoticed in Europe either with Barcelona ace Lionel Messi claiming 'he'd be successful anywhere in Europe', prior to their UEFA Champions League clash last season.

Celtic hailed news of the youngster's decision to commit his long-term future to the club by stating they are looking to tie down the services of all their key personnel.

Wonderful news

"This is wonderful news for the club and our supporters," Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell told the club's official website.

"Aiden's performances in recent seasons have made him the outstanding player in Scottish football and clearly we are delighted that he has committed his long-term future to the club.

"Our priority has always been to try and keep our best players at the club and the board is delighted to support Gordon in his plans for the future by securing Aiden on this long-term agreement.

"It is particularly satisfying that Aiden has become such a success having come through the ranks of our youth development programme.

Tribute

"While he himself deserves immense praise for all he has done, he is also a real tribute to all those people who have assisted his development including, of course, the great Tommy Burns."

Although Celtic recently completed the capture of Georgos Samaras from Manchester City, the club have hinted there will be more additions in the coming weeks.

"Clearly, we will also continue to look to make quality additions to our squad and we are pleased to have done this in recent days with the signing of Georgios Samaras, someone who was so crucial to our success last season," Lawwell continued.

"The board will continue to do all we can to support the manager and ensure that Celtic stays at the top of Scottish football."

McGeady himself is delighted to have thrashed out his future and is looking forward to building on his success at the club.

"I'm delighted," said McGeady. "I'm looking forward to spending the next few years of my career here.

"I think you get the lure of Champions League football every season. I'm obviously a boyhood Celtic fan as well.

"I've got the right background to go on and progress and I can see myself doing that in the next few years and achieving even more for Celtic."