Bhoys Cold And Then Hot In The Netherlands

Gravesen Could Be Off To Sunny Spain!

By Tony Quinn

Tottenham 2 Celtic 0
Feyenoord 1 Celtic 3

A great first-half display helped Celtic beat Feyenoord 3-1 to finish their four-day pre-season trip to Holland on a winning note.

Having lost 2-0 to Tottenham in their first match, the Hoops were eager to get back to winning ways at the De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam last Sunday.

Captain for the day Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink scored twice after Georgios Samaras got the Hoops off to a dream start.

Samaras, who made his loan move from Man City permanent this summer, produced a fine curling finish in the 13th minute after controlling Paul Hartley's pass.

It took just three more minutes for Vennegoor of Hesselink to double the lead, heading powerfully home after some fine build-up play from Aiden McGeady and Lee Naylor.

McGeady then turned creator for a second time, going past three defenders before teeing up Vennegoor of Hesselink.

This time the Dutchman produced a fierce drive to make it 3-0 before the interval.

The pace slowed in the second half, with the two-goal skipper taking a well-earned rest to be replaced by Scott McDonald.

With 57 minutes gone Leroy Fer drilled the ball goalwards from 25 yards to give the home fans something to cheer.

Reports earlier in the week suggest Arsenal have emerged as the new favorites to sign Artur Boruc after AC Milan all but pulled out.

AC have been keeping an eye on the Polish goalie but they have limited funds and appear resigned to not getting their man.

Arsenal on the other hand have money and want a new goalie to compete with

Almunia their current number one and it is no secret that Wenger has been an admirer of the Celtic stopper.

Reports say Arsenal are ready to make an offer and a source close to the player has been reported as saying that if Arsenal make a bid that the player would jump at the chance.

Bobo Balde is stalling on a deal with Sunderland. So far the Black Cats are the only team to come close to matching the $60,000-a-week wage he is collecting at Celtic, but their offer also gives him few guarantees beyond the end of the season.

Gordon Strachan admits he wants to strengthen his squad this week and is being linked with Nathan Dyer. The Southampton midfielder has only just signed a new deal at St Mary's but that is not stopping reports suggesting that Celtic could swoop in the near future.

Thomas Gravesen could make a return to Spain following speculation Real Zaragoza are set to make a £1.5million bid. The 32-year-old midfielder, who joined Celtic from Spanish giants Real Madrid two years ago, has a year left on his contract - a deal reportedly costing the club £40,000-a-week.

A bid of £1.5million for Gravesen, who spent last season on loan at Everton but failed to impress enough to earn a full-time return to Goodison Park, would surely be accepted - so it could all come down to personal terms of the former Denmark international.

Celtic have reportedly failed to lure Sean Davis and as such the midfielder is set to stay at Portsmouth despite Harry Redknapp admitting the need to sell to bring in his remaining transfer targets. Pompey had apparently accepted Celtic's £2.5m fee for the 28-year-old former Fulham and Tottenham man, but Davis reportedly did not want to move north of the border.

A report from Germany claims Celtic and Fulham are both interested in signing Wolfsburg defender Alexander Madlung. The defender is rated at around £1.5 million and is rumored to want to try his luck in the Premiership. He has been mostly overlooked at Wolfsburg but has still made 55 appearances for them, scoring 5 goals in the process and has even played for the national team twice. At 6'4" he is known as a hard player to get past and can be useful at corners.

Reports from Iceland suggest that Celtic and a host of other clubs are chasing the signature of 15 year old winger Ingolfur Sigurdsson. The Bhoys are said to be in pole position to sign him despite serious interest from clubs such as Manchester United, Chelsea and Barcelona.

Chelsea's chief scout and director of youth development Frank Arnesen has also made the trip to Iceland to run the rule over the youngster and to talk to his parents.