Transfer news: Celtic confirm they are trying to sign Gary Mackay-Steven from Dundee United
Saturday 17 January 2015 12:25, UK
Celtic manager Ronny Deila has confirmed he is trying to sign Gary Mackay-Steven from Dundee United on a pre- contract agreement, while also hoping to keep Kris Commons at the club.
Winger Mackay-Steven, 24, has a deal with Dundee United which ends in the summer and Hoops boss Deila refused to reveal whether or not the Tangerines were looking for a £250,000 fee for the player to move to Parkhead this month, in the current transfer window.
We have talked to his agent and what we understand is that he is interested in coming to Celtic.
However, Deila, who returned with his squad from the winter training break in Gran Canaria on Wednesday, was hopeful some sort of agreement could be struck.
He said: "He is a player we have been looking at for a long time. We hope to sign a contract with him into the summer. If we can do something now we will do it but everything has its price.
"We haven't talked with him but we have talked to his agent and what we understand is that he is interested in coming to Celtic.
"We have an opportunity to get him under contract from the summer and we will do what we can to arrange it and hopefully it will be arranged in a few days."
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Deila went on to insist that prized asset, Dutch centre-half Virgil van Dijk, would be going nowhere despite interest from English Premier League suitors.
He said: "He is also staying. To get someone out of Celtic just now will be very hard. We are going to keep all our best players and we want to bring some in."
Celtic returned from their break four points behind league leaders Aberdeen albeit the champions have two games in hand.
The Hoops travel to Hamilton on Saturday to face a side which beat them for the first time in 76 years at Celtic Park in October.
The 1-0 win for the visitors still rankles with the former Stromsgodset boss, who said: "We lost against Hamilton the last time so we have to bounce back.
"That cut is deep in my heart and I don't want to experience that again. We are hungry to play, we are determined and I am really looking forward to it.
"We have something to prove in every game.
"We have to keep on going and we will see how good Aberdeen and all the other teams are.
"Mikael Lustig might be back along with James Forrest. Anthony Stokes is back next week. Charlie Mulgrew starts training on Monday, Jason Denayer and Beram Kayal are back."
“Derk Boerrigter has trained for the first time in two-and-a-half months but Tom Rogic is still injured.
"We lost against Hamilton the last time so we need to bounce back from that. That cut deep. I don’t want to experience that again."
Watch Hamilton v Celtic on Sky Sports 3 HD from 12.30pm on Saturday
