Midfielder Souza snubs Celtic

CELTIC target Vinicius Souza was last night closing in on a move to Spanish side Espanyol. Sportsmail first revealed how the Scottish champions were among a number of clubs chasing the 22-year-old Brazilian. City Football Group, the Manchester City parent company from whom Celtic hired Ange Postecoglou and head of recruitment Mark Lawwell, own 60 per cent of the holding midfielder and were happy to let him move to Glasgow. Souza had been placed with Lommel in Belgium, and prompted talks between Celtic and his agents after impressing on loan at KV Mechelen. However, he is reluctant to move to Scotland and, after attracting interest from Spain and Germany, was in Barcelona last night preparing to join Espanyol. Postecoglou is in the market for midfielders and, speaking at the club’s Austrian training camp, insisted he has a list of contingencies if players didn’t want to come to Parkhead. ‘If any time I get a sense that (a player doesn’t want to be at the club), then we’re happy to move on to the next one,’ he said.