Oh thank goodness, a place for poor Derm and Petey to spend their cash

By: Matt | February 24th, 2009

Happy Fat Tuesday to all the Timothy’s out there, as tomorrow will start a “fasting” period for many of you. By God, do I love me some fried fish and cannot wait to head to my local parish here for some fish fry tomorrow and Friday. I am not very religious, but I am converted by the wonderful fried deliciousness of Lake Erie perch. Burnt plants on your forehead aside, it seems some caring and concerned players and teams have heard the desperate call of a desperate man looking to spend his Irish boss’ stacks of money. Now tell me if you’ve heard of this before, Celtic have signed a youngster, hoping that he’ll be a great player in the future for a bargain price. No? ME NEITHER! Er, maybe not, but anyways, Celtic today signed former Liverpool and Wigan youth squad player, 16 year old John Marsden to a professional contract of three years. Apparently you can sign a professional contract in Scotland at age 16, but cannot sign until you are 17 in England. It seems young Johnny had Sterling signs in his eyes and decided to head up North. Marsden had this to say of signing with the Hoops, “Because of a lack of money at most Scottish clubs they purchase young lads and bring them through. They can’t just go and buy a Fernando Torres for £25m. My target for this season is to get fit and play a few games for the under-19s and hopefully next season you’ll see the best of me. I was in the process of signing for Celtic when I got injured but they were good enough to still sign me and continue with my rehab up here.” Ah good, young talent that is injured. I’m sure he will make an immediate impact with the club.

Celtic are also starting to work on possible signings for the summer. They have already secured the signature of Dundee United keeper Lukazs Zaluska for next year. Celtic now turn their sights to Austrian striker Marc Janko and Egyptian striker Shikabala. The Bhoys are looking to land a £6 million summer swoop of the two goal scorers, or so revealed German based agent Georg Stanggassinger, who represents both players.

Celtic were apparently interested in the pair of players in the January transfer window, but for various reasons the deals did not get done. Stanggassinger had this to say about his two clients, “I was in Glasgow three times in January talking with Celtic about Marc Janko and the player himself spent one and a half days looking about the club. Marc met with Mr.Strachan and other officials and had a chance to see the stadium, facilities and also to take a tour of the city. Salzburg made it clear to us that Marc would not be allowed to go in the winter break and all parties understood this. But we were allowed to talk with Celtic and come to Glasgow and now we must wait and see what the future brings.”

He also added about Shikabala “Celtic had watched Shikabala play a few times, but in the end the clock was the winner.The deal could not be done, but it remains possible for a move in the summer. It’s certainly not dead.” Both players would be good additions to the squad, especially with the trio of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Scott McDonald, and Georgios Samaras not producing like they have in the past and Gordon Strachan seemingly unwilling to let Ben Hutchinson have a chance.