CELTIC last night signed Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo from Rapid Vienna, paying a transfer fee of £3million – plus add ons – to take the spending in this window past the £10million mark.
Having spent £7million on Christopher Jullien and around £350k on Luca Connell, the new arrival takes Celtic’s spending to £10,350,000 and that could increase further TODAY.
The deadline for signing players for the Champions League First Qualifying round is today and Neil Lennon is looking at adding at least one more recruit as he re-shapes the Celtic squad.
The Rapid Vienna left-back has signed a four-year deal with Celtic and looked thrilled with the move to the Scottish Champions and Treble Treble winners who are tooling up for the Ten.
It’s official – Boli is a Bhoy! ????
Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo has joined #CelticFC on a four-year deal from @skrapid ???? #WelcomeBoli
➡️ https://t.co/huO7MreaTh pic.twitter.com/hWtX4FFCuX
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 3, 2019
Bolingoli-Mbombo exited Rapid’s pre-season training camp in Bad Zell, ‘jetted in’ to Scotland and sailed through his medical before putting pen to paper on a lucrative deal which sees Bolingoli-Mbombo increase his salary substantially.
The 24 year old signed for Celtic’s old European foes Rapid Vienna from Brugge for a fee of £800,000 from Brugge in 2017. Celtic beat off competition from England and Italy to sign the player after having an offer accepted by the Austrian side.
Bolingoli-Mbombo has signed in time to make his debut in the Champions League on Tuesday night against FK Sarajevo if Neil Lennon reckons he is ready to play given where most players around Europe are at the moment in terms of pre-season training.
Our new signing told Celtic TV: “It feels great, amazing actually, to be a part of the Celtic family.
“I want to reach more goals and win some titles, I know this club wants to break some records and hopefully we can do that.
“I found about Celtic’s interest last week and they had contact with my agent. I said yes, you cannot say no. It was a great opportunity for me to take the next step in my career.
???????????? #WelcomeBoli https://t.co/zA84qZcnMR pic.twitter.com/yNNbLwEpvj
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) July 3, 2019
“I’m a full-back, as everyone knows, I’m fast and technically very good. I use my speed and my skills down the left side.
“I just love to play football. I have been dreaming of playing in this big stadium. It was a nice atmosphere in Vienna but here it will be double or treble that.
“I cannot wait to play in this beautiful stadium. It’s the same colour but it’s a new challenge.
“I think I love green and white.”
The 24 year old left back also mentioned the matches he played against the Rangers in the Europa League last season.
“It was a nice experience to play against Rangers, it was a big game. We lost in Glasgow but we won at home.
“For me it was nice to see the level and qualities of Scottish football and it’s a high level.”
Here is Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo’s interview with Celtic TV…
