MOHAMMED ELYOUNOUSSI took part in his first training session with his new teammates today as Celtic’s new signing gears up for the big Glasgow Derby at Ibrox tomorrow. If he doesn’t quite understand how big a deal it is to be a Celtic player today he sure will by mid afternoon tomorrow.
The 25 year old winger joined Celtic last night on a season long loan from Southampton, to the surprise of many. Mohammed is the second player to arrive at Celtic from St Mary’s in just over a week, with the former Celtic keeper – who looks likely to start at Ibrox – arriving back at the club last week. The Norwegian forward also had another familiar face awaiting him today, his international teammate Kristopher Ajer.
And before heading up to Glasgow from the South coast the Norwegian was able to speak to former Celtic man Stuart Armstrong about the club and the city.
“I also spoke to Stuart Armstrong,” Elyounoussi told the official Celtic website, “and everyone has just had good things to say about the club and the city, so it’s been a really good first day.
“Stuart told me about the facilities here, the squad at Celtic and also the city. I asked him where I should live and things like that, stuff outside of football, and he just had great things to say about Celtic.
“It was more of a surprise for Kristoffer because I didn’t talk to him before I signed. I didn’t want to bother him since the team were preparing for the play-off game against AIK. In the end, I had heard enough to convince me to come here anyway, but now that I’m at Celtic it’s good to talk to him about it.
“I’m proud to be part of the club, to come here and I’m looking forward to the season. Celtic is a massive club with a lot of fans, and ”
Elyounoussi joined Southampton last season after impressing in at FC Basel. Before that, he had played with Molde in Norway, and scored home and away against Celtic when the sides met in the Europa League back in 2015. He wasn’t able to establish himself at Southampton and a move to Celtic gives him the chance to kick-start his career.
“I came here to become a better player and get back to where I was when I was at Basel.
“So hopefully I can get some chances to show what I can do, have an impact on the game and help the team to score more goals. Obviously they’ve been doing that already, so I’m here to help with that.
“As a footballer, you always want to play more games and show what you can do, and help the team win games.
“Like I said, I want to become a better player and I know the gaffer can make me a better player, from what I’ve heard, and the way Celtic play football will suit me very well.
“I enjoy playing football for a team that has a lot of possession and where the offensive players are allowed to show their skills and be creative. In Basel we were quite dominant and had the ball a lot, and the fans expected us to, not only win games, but also score a lot of goals.
“I want to play for a club where there is a lot of pressure and you have to play well and score goals, and to be dominant in games.”
Meanwhile Greg Taylor will become a Celtic player imminently after Celtic reached agreement with Kilmarnock. Th e player had his medical today with an announcement due shortly. Jack Hendry is likely to move in the other direction for a season long loan.
We’ve been telling you about this deal happening for weeks now! Both poker players walk away thinking they’ve won.
Also on The Celtic Star today…
Another Beautiful Sunday? Confidence is high on Celtic Noise ahead of Glasgow Derby..see HERE.
‘It’s astonishing that Rangers essentially got away with what they did,’ Tangled Up in Blue author…see HERE.
‘It’s been a week of negatives for me considering I’ve not done an awful lot wrong,’ Craig Gordon…see HERE.
