Goalkeeper linked to Nottingham Forest from Celtic may go
Celtic may lose a promising young player in the January transfer window.
The Scottish Premiership match between Hibs and Hearts, with the Easter Road team hosting St Johnstone and the Jambos traveling to St Mirren, is just two days away.
Although Nick Montgomery’s first match in charge of Hibs ended in a 2-2 tie, there is still much for the former A-League manager to improve upon as he strives for his first victory. Hearts, led by Steven Naismith, were able to recover from a run of disappointing results by defeating Aberdeen 2-0.
Here are the most recent transfer rumors from Hibs and Hearts’ Scottish Premiership opponents, albeit the clubs in Edinburgh seek to build on their current success…
Inverness When the position of head coach at Caledonian Thistle last became available, the club, according to chief executive Scot Gardiner, received a flood of applications from South America (Press & Journal). This time, the Caley Jags reportedly have Darren O’Dea, the B-team coach of Celtic, and Liam Fox, the B-team coach of Hearts, as their top targets.
The ICT CEO stated: “To be honest, there were a lot more Championship Manager applicants last time. This time, there weren’t as many. I don’t like when individuals do that because they are immediately eliminated.
“Last time, we had approximately 100 applications; astonishingly, nearly 70 of those came from South America. We received applications from all over, including Venezuela, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, and Ecuador, due to some unusual event.
Premier League clubs are interested in Celtic starlet
Nottingham Forest are weighing up a move for 18-year-old Celtic winger Rocco Vata, who is in the final year of his contract and has so far dismissed talks over a possible new contract (TeamTalk).
Vata has been told his first-team opportunities will be limited under Brendan Rodgers this season and has thus been restricted to outings with the Celtic B team in the Lowland League, where he has already scored six goals in five matches this season.
Forest are reportedly long-term admirers of Vata and they have been keeping tabs on his contract situation. The Premier League side are keen to build a strong base of youth in their academy set-up and they see Vata as a potential star in the making.
Israel set sights on out-of-favour Dundee star
Out-of-favour Dundee United goalkeeper Mark Birighitti is considering leaving the Championship club as an option in Israel has emerged for the 32-year-old (The Courier and Daily Record).