Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Manchester City defender Jahmai Simpson-Pusey will become Celtic’s seventh summer signing, with the teenager currently undergoing his medical in Glasgow ahead of a season-long loan move.
Manchester City’s Ederson and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers
CeltsAreHere exclusively broke the deal on Sunday evening.
The highly-rated 19-year-old, who captained City’s youth side to the Premier League 2 title and was named PL2 Player of the Year, is expected to be officially unveiled imminently.
Rodgers spoke positively about the central defender’s qualities and potential impact at Parkhead.
“Yes, a very gifted young player,” he told CeltsAreHere. “Obviously, coming through the system there at Manchester City, his profile fits very much what we want from our centre-halves.
“He’s quick, he’s dominant, he’s a good defender and of course, at Celtic, your centre-halves need to be able to progress the ball and that’s a big strength of his.
“So, we’ve taken him on loan for a year. We always need all our centre-halves at Celtic. We play so many games, so many intense games and he’ll join our squad.
“He’s obviously a little bit behind because he hasn’t played so many games over the course of pre-season but we’ve brought him through for the rest of the season and hopefully we can close that one out today.”
Celtic looked light at centre-half at points last season, with all of Carter-Vickers, Liam Scales and Auston Trusty picking up injuries at different stages in the season. Dane Murray has come into the fold, but injuries have hampered him in the past, too. So bringing in a young, hungry player for the year does seem like some smart business.
Simpson-Pusey joins Callum Osmand, Kieran Tierney, Shin Yamada, Hayato Inamura, Benji Nygren and Ross Doohan in what is now a seven-strong list of summer additions.
With the new league campaign kicking off on Sunday, Rodgers will be keen to see the squad come together quickly as Celtic prepare for domestic and European challenges.
He will also be looking to add some wingers to the squad before the window shuts in a month.
