O'Neill announces first Celtic summer signing and confirms more are on their way

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Suraj Radia | Editor

Martin O’Neill has confirmed that Celtic are on the verge of making their first signing of the summer in a move that could spark a flurry of activity for the Scottish Premiership champions.

Celtic have been linked with a number of players but they have yet to sign anyone since O’Neill was permanently appointed as manager last month.

However, reports emerged this week that Celtic had agreed to sign Qarabag winger Camilo Duran and O’Neill confirmed that a deal was in place for the Colombian to join the club imminently ahead of the club’s pre-season training camp in Portugal.

"We've got the young lad Duran - he is doing a medical as we speak,” O’Neill said. “I think Tim Williamson, our physio, has gone down to meet up with him and I think that that’s going to happen. I think that he should be able to join us in Portugal, certainly in the next 24 hours.

“He’s still very young. I think he can hold up play well. I think he’s strong in that department. We need a few players. It’s as simple as that. But I do think he will be a good addition.

“Will he be the first of a few? Absolutely. We have been making inroads into it. Like everything, sometimes you get thwarted with things but we still need a number of players.”

O’Neill confirms plans to add new signings after Duran

Duran is understood to have agreed terms on a three-year contract with Celtic, with the Scottish giants set to pay Qarabag around €6 million for their star forward.

The 24-year-old netted nine league goals last season for the Azerbaijani side as well as scoring five goals in ten Champions League appearances.

O’Neill confimed that Celtic were now set to accelerate their transfer business, with offers already in for a number of targets as the club looks to ramp up their incoming business.

“We've a number of players we're looking at,” O’Neill said. “We have offers in for players at the same time.

“Hopefully in the not too distant future, in the next couple of weeks, we will have some really decent players at the football to add to the decent players we already have at the football club. We are absolutely trying to improve the squad and that will be necessary."