Sport: Celtic sign Compper and return to winning ways against Partick
Celtic have announced the signing of German international defender Marvin Compper from RB Leipzig on a two-and-a-half year contract for a fee believed to be in the region of £1 million.
He will become the third German to play for Celtic, following on from Andreas Thom and Andreas Hinkel.
Compper, 32, helped RB Leipzig finish second in the Bundesliga last season but has never won a title in a career that has also included spells at Borussia Monchengladbach and Hoffenheim, as well as Serie A side Fiorentina. It is something he hopes to rectify at Celtic.
“I was playing in good teams but never won a title,” he said. “This is something I’m really looking forward to, having the possibility to play in big games for big wins.”
New recruit Marvin Compper is looking to make an immediate impact at Celtic when he begins his Parkhead career in the new year.
The club announced yesterday that the 32-yearold Germany international had signed a two-anda-half-year deal and will officially join the Scottish champions on 1 January when the transfer window opens. Compper has been recruited by manager Brendan Rodgers, pictured inset, as the spotlight returned on the Celtic defence following the 4-0 defeat by Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday, which ended their 69-game unbeaten domestic run.
Speaking in the Celtic Park media room before the Ladbrokes Premiership clash with Partick Thistle, the German centre-back was asked if he expected to fit straight into the Celtic first team.
“If you get a 32-year-old from Germany that is the plan,” he said. “At the end of the day it is about performance.
“If I don’t perform in training and in the game then I’m not going to play. So it is all about that.
“This is what I ask for myself and ask from my team-mates and this is what I am counting on, that I am going to bring here.”
Compper, who declared himself “proud and honoured to be part of this fantastic club”, will not be available for Celtic’s Europa League tie against Zenit St Petersburg in February as he played in the Champions League for RB Leipzig against Besiktas.
He will return to Glasgow in the new year in the search of silverware.
“This is what this club is about and I want to show Scottish people that I am capable of playing for Celtic,” he said. “I think it is obvious, if you get a player who is 32 years old you are looking for experience.
“This is what the club is getting; experience, quality in passing and my heading is fine. I speak a lot on the pitch and try to help the guys around me and I am used to high defending.
“So all these things I bring to the table. This is what they saw in me and why they contacted me.”
As homework on his move, Compper spoke to RB Leipzig keeper Peter Gulacsi, who had worked with Rodgers at Liverpool.
He said: “He was telling me great things about the UK and also Celtic as a club,” said the German, who previously played in his homeland for Borussia Monchengladbach and Hoffenheim, as well as in Italy for Serie A side Fiorentina. “He said Brendan was fantastic with players, had fantastic knowledge about everything and was very good with detail. Only good things.
“I know people are very passionate about football here, that is known all over the world and the ambience, especially here at Celtic Park, you cannot compare to many other stadiums, maybe none.
“This is one of the things that I am most looking forward to.”
“I think it is obvious, if you get a player who is 32 years old you are looking for experience”