Celtic have announced the signing of Republic of Ireland international Shane Duffy, as the centre-half joins on-loan from Brighton and Hove Albion on a season long deal, as announced by the club’s official website.
Duffy… 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 ✅🙌
📝 @FAIreland international defender, Shane Duffy has joined #CelticFC on a season-long loan! 🇮🇪
Welcome, @shaneduffy! 🤩💚
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) September 2, 2020
The 28-year old lifelong Hoops fans is massively excited about getting to realise his dream of playing for the club he loves, turning down the chance to stay in the Premier League to help Neil Lennon’s quest for 10-in-a-row:
“I really am delighted to sign this deal with Celtic. It is a huge honour for me to join Celtic, such a huge institution and a brilliant football club that I have always loved and admired
“It will be a fantastic personal moment for me when I pull on the Celtic jersey. It’s just a great feeling – I could not be happier to be part of the Club now and I just can’t wait to start working with the Manager, the staff and the players when I return from International duty with Ireland.
“We will be challenging on a lot of fronts this season and I am really excited about getting going, as we try and bring the fans more and more success.”
Duffy’s signing has been a long time coming with defensive frailties being at fault for the calamitous defeat to Ferencvaros in the Champions league, he will add a physicality and no-nonsense approach that is sometimes missing from the Celtic rearguard.
Is Ajer now free to leave Celtic?
Yes
No
Where this leaves the future of Kristoffer Ajer remains to be seen with it being no secret that he is trying to engineer a move away from the club, however, even if he does leave, Duffy will more than fill the hole left by his departure.