Celtic defender Darren O’Dea is set to join Ipswich Town on loan as boss Neil Lennon cannot guarantee the Ireland international regular first-team football.
After Celtic opened the season with a 1-0 win at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, thanks to a superb solo effort from Paddy McCourt, Lennon revealed Sweden international centre-back Daniel Majstorovic and Honduras international left-back Emilio Izaguirre were close to joining the club.
Majstorovic, who is 33, currently plays for AEK Athens and has been capped 34 times for his country, is expected to sign a two-year deal with Celtic while discussions with 24-year-old Izaguirre, who has 44 caps, are at a less advanced stage.
Lennon was quoted by SkySports.com as saying: “Majstorovic is in over the weekend for a medical so we think we’re nearly over the line with him. Izaguirre will be in on Sunday but I don’t know how far we are down the line with him.”
The added competition for places helps explain why O’Dea is keen to make another loan move to England. The 23-year-old spent the first half of the previous season on loan with Reading before returning to Glasgow in January and becoming an important part of the first team. O’Dea signed a three-year contract extension before making the temporary switch to Reading.
Lennon said: “Ipswich have made an enquiry to take him on loan so there is a possibility he will be down there on Monday. He doesn’t want to be a squad player, he wants to play and I can’t guarantee him that.
“Ipswich have given him the opportunity to go and play and I think it will be good for him to get some games under his belt because we’re bringing in other people allied to the ones we’ve got.”
Although it would be almost impossible to arrange as different leagues begin at different times, it may be better for all clubs if the transfer window closed before the league actually began. However, although Celtic won all three points today it did appear, especially in the first-half, there is still room for tweaks to be made to the squad.
And with £9.5million – or whatever the amount really was – coming in from the sale of Aiden McGeady to Spartak Moscow, perhaps the gap between the league starting and the window closing will prove to be one of the most productive for Celtic in recent seasons. We can at least live in hope.
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