Celtic hope to complete a double January swoop with deals for Ivory Coast midfielder Ismaila Soro and Polish striker Patryk Klimala on Tuesday.
Record Sport can confirm Scotland’s champions have agreed a fee worth around £2million for 21-year-old Soro with his Israeli club Bnei Yehuda and chief executive Peter Lawwell now hopes to complete the transfer in the next 24 hours.
And with Klimala already in Glasgow to put pen to paper on a four-and-a-half year contract following a £3.5m agreement with top flight outfit Jagiellonia Białystok, boss Neil Lennon is beefing up his options ahead of the title run-in.
Klimala admitted he was “excited” as he prepared to put the finishing touches to his deal in Glasgow.
Soro, meanwhile, was also being chased by Belgian champions Genk but it’s understood Celtic’s close links with the 21-year-old Ivorian’s agent Dudu Dahan have helped push them to the front of the queue.
Dahan has previously secured deals to move Beram Kayal, Efe Ambrose,Nir Bitton and Hatem Elhamed to Glasgow’s east end.
And, earlier on Monday in Israel, Soro’s move was already being described as a done deal.
Newly appointed manager Elisha Levy admitted he is already searching for Soro’s replacement after angry fans protested about the player’s proposed sale.
The former Israeli national manager said: “Ismaila Soro’s transfer deal to Celtic has been closed in principle and he is expected to leave in the near future. When I took this job I knew he was going, so this isn’t a surprise to me.
“It just means we will have to look for reinforcements in his position.
“Of course it will be difficult because Soro is an excellent player. He is clearly a big loss to the team and it will be up to me to find a good replacement for him.”
