Luis Palma signed on the dotted line for the Hoops yesterday finally and announced his joy and delight at being able to say he’s now a Celt. Choosing the heralded number 7 jersey, our new signing for the wings couldn’t hide his happiness at being given the opportunity to make an impact at a big club at this stage in his career.

Palma, of course, is Honduran and knows all about Emilio Izaguirre and his time in Scotland. It’s a man who has hoping to emulate in terms of the success he brought to the club and even revealed that he spoke to Emilio himself before he made the decision to come to Paradise. Speaking exclusively to Celtic TV, Luis Palma said: “I’m very happy and I’m very grateful to be here. I’m happy to be here in Scotland and I’m really happy to represent these colours.

“I spoke to Emilio a couple of days ago. We spoke about the club, and now that I’m here I’d like to do as much or even more that what Emilio did at the club. We had a chat about it and had a good laugh about it because that’s what every player wants to do – to come in and play in front of a lot of fans. So it’s something that I’m looking to try and do and I’m excited about it. I’m looking forward to meeting my team-mates and being able to be on the training pitch with them. I’m a happy person so I’m just hoping to bring that feeling to the club as well.”

Luis arrives from Greek side Aris Thessaloniki and is already accustomed to European football. However, he admitted a big part of the attraction for joining the Bhoys is the chance to test himself on the grandest stage of them all; the UEFA Champions League.

The draw is this evening and Palma has articulated his excitement at the prospect of playing in a competition he used to watch and dream about as a boy.

“I feel like the 10-year-old boy I was, dreaming about playing in the Champions League and now I’m just looking forward to it,” he said. “I watched it when I was younger and I looked at Emilio and him playing in Europe with the Celtic team, and now I’m excited that I get to do that myself.”

When quizzed about what the Celtic supporters can expect from him moving forward in the team, he gave a mouth-watering answer. He said: “My finishing is quite strong and my free-kicks are good as well. I’m good in one-on-one attacking situations and I’m hoping to try and bring these skills to Celtic. And the reason why I’m here is to try and bring as much happiness and joy to the Celtic fans as I can.”