£4.5m Sinclair signs for Celtic

CELTIC finally got their man yesterday when Scott Sinclair signed a four-year deal.

The 27 year old winger, who was once on £80,000 a week with Manchester City, put pen to paper after passing a medical.

Aston Villa, who had rejected four separate bids from the Hoops, accepted a £4.5 million offer, comprised of £3 million up front and £1.5 million in potential addons, on Friday night.

The decision, taken by manager Roberto Di Matteo, followed their purchase of Scotland internationalist Ross McCormack for £12 million from Fulham.

That left the player to fly north yesterday to reach a final agreement on his personal terms.

And to the delight of Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers, who had originally wanted to make him his first signing for the Hoops, the formalities went without a hitch.

Rodgers had Sinclair under his charge at Swansea from 2010-2012, the pair using their success in south Wales as a springboard to respective moves to Liverpool and Manchester City.

The pair were also together at Chelsea when Sinclair was a youth player.

The Hoops were clearly determined not to pay over the odds for a player Villa at one stage valued at £6 million.

But their progression to the Champions League play-offs coupled with the hamstring strain suffered by Patrick Roberts persuaded the board to up their bid decisively.

Sinclair, who will wear the number 11 shirt, is now set to be a key man in those play-offs, in which Celtic have been paired with Israeli club Hapoel Be’er Sheva.

Sinclair is the new manager’s third signing since his appointment following on from the earlier arrivals of Moussa Dembele from Fulham and Kolo Toure.

He remains adamant there will be more with Manchester United’s Paddy McNair, as a loan, and Shane Duffy or Blackburn among potential targets.

There was interest too in Jon Flanagan, but he has joined Burnley instead.