Celtic seal Hendry and Bain deals
CELTIC went right to deadline before sealing the addition of Dundee defender Jack Hendry in a deal potentially worth up to £1.5million. The Parkhead club earlier struck an agreement to take goalkeeper Scott Bain on loan from Dens Park until the end of the season after Hibernian opted to end his temporary stay in Edinburgh. But their move for Hendry, which was first revealed by
Sportsmail last month, required extra work after negotiations continued as midnight approached.
Sportsmail understands a
request from Dundee to take the player back on loan, rejected by Celtic, delayed Hendry’s arrival in Glasgow to tie up the remaining details of the switch.
He eventually signed a four-and-ahalf year contract at Parkhead in a tense conclusion to the January window.
The 22-year-old had also been tracked by Rangers and several English clubs, but Brendan Rodgers has long been keen to secure his services. Sportsmail revealed how the former Wigan centre-back had visited Parkhead to watch the Champions League match against Anderlecht on December 6 as Celtic stepped up their efforts to sign the player.
Last night, Hendry said: ‘I’m absolutely delighted to have signed for Celtic. Joining the Scottish champions is a brilliant move for me.
‘I know, from playing against Celtic this season, the quality of players that are at the club and I can’t wait to start training with my new team-mates.
‘I also know that working with Brendan Rodgers and the rest of the coaching staff here will improve me as a player and I’m looking forward to working hard every day to repay the faith they’ve shown in signing me.
‘I’ve already experienced playing at Celtic Park as an opposition player, but I can’t wait to run out wearing the Celtic jersey and play in front of the Celtic supporters.’
Keeper Bain arrived at Celtic Park around 8pm last night — still wearing his Hibs tracksuit — to complete the formalities of his deal.
Rodgers had been seeking backup for Dorus de Vries after firstchoice Craig Gordon was ruled out for 12 weeks by a knee injury sustained in an accidental collision with Efe Ambrose during last weekend’s 1-0 win over Hibs.
Celtic yesterday saw a second bid of around £375,000 turned down by Motherwell for Trevor Carson and had also been linked with Arsenal’s Emiliano Martinez.
However, Bain had not featured for Hibernian since moving on loan from Dundee earlier this month, leaving him clear under the regulations to make a move to Parkhead.
‘This is biggest club in Scotland and one of the biggest clubs in the world, so I just can’t believe that I’m here,’ said Bain.
‘I phoned my dad earlier today just to say that I was leaving Easter Road and on the road to Glasgow, and he was buzzing and delighted for me. I can’t believe I was on the bench for Hibs against Celtic last weekend and then, just a few days later, I’m signing for Celtic.
‘It’s not something that, when I went on loan to Hibs, I thought was ever going to happen, so the past few days have been great, and to get it over the line and to be here is absolutely amazing.’
The Bain negotiation was part of a complex triangle of loans involving Celtic, Dundee and Hibernian that went to the wire.
The Dens Park club cancelled midfielder Scott Allan’s loan from the champions to allow him to rejoin Hibs, who in turn loaned striker Simon Murray to Dundee for the remainder of the season.
‘It is an opportunity for Scott (Bain) to play for the champions, or at least be in their squad, and we didn’t want to stand in his way,’ said Hibs boss Neil Lennon, who signed Cammy Bell as a replacement following his release from Kilmarnock.
‘Scott Allan is a creative type of player we really like. We have had to sacrifice a player (Murray) to get it done, but we needed a bit of creativity in forward areas.’
On the arrival of Bell until the end of the season, Lennon joked: ‘I’m a big admirer of Cammy. He’s 78 now but still going strong!’
Celtic had already made three previous January signings, with Charly Musonda speaking to the media at Parkhead yesterday following his arrival on an 18-month loan deal from Chelsea.
The Premiership champions also spent around £300,000 on Scotland Under-21 winger Lewis Morgan before loaning him back to St Mirren and paid RB Leipzig around £1m for Marvin Compper.
Elsewhere, Motherwell signed Stephen Hendrie on loan from Southend, but lost out on their bid to add a forward before the deadline.
Speaking after a 2-1 defeat by Hibernian, chief operating officer Alan Burrows wrote on Twitter: ‘We had it all agreed, paperwork signed at our end, but sadly the English L1 team we were recruiting from had the carpet pulled from under them and understandably had to pull the plug on us.
‘Very frustrating, but part of the pitfalls of the window system.’
St Johnstone completed loan deals for Fulham and Wales winger George Williams and Manchester United midfielder Matty Willock.