CELTIC have been browsing in Iceland for some time now, but yesterday they finally completed a purchase from the strikers' aisle.

While the club have been linked with high-value moves for Alfred Finnbogason of Heerenveen and Ajax's Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, it was a player from the bargain basement who actually ended up in their shopping basket.

Holmbert Fridjonsson, a 6ft 3in, 20-year-old target man, will join from Fram Reykjavik for around £100,000 in January, so it seemed appropriate yesterday that he should be asked whether he was merely the advance party in an Icelandic invasion. "It would be nice to have some Icelandic company, so it would be nice if they joined me," Fridjsonsson said.

The player has yet to grace his nation's ever-improving national team - he is a mainstay for their Under-21 side, scoring recently in a narrow defeat by France - but he derives huge inspiration from the burgeoning careers of the country's so-called 'golden generation', even if their hopes of being the least populated country to grace the World Cup finals were defeated at the last by Croatia.

"I think the boys in the national team are amazing," said Fridjonsson. "They are playing in Holland and scoring goals every time and I think the facilities are getting better also. People can train every day inside in the heat so it is getting better.

"I know a few of these guys personally and I want to be as big as them. I know Kolbeinn, he played for my former club [HK], and also Rurik Gislason. Every Icelandic guy knows each other I think; it is such a small country that everyone is very close. If you play in the first team with a big club like Celtic then you will get close to the national team."

Fridjonsson, who scored 14 goals in 50 appearances for Fram, will not be the first native of Iceland to grace Celtic Park. He has a personal connection with 70's Parkhead fans' favourite Johannes 'Shuggy' Edvaldsson, having played with his nephew with the national under-21 side, and also shared a club dressing room with Kjartan Henry Finnbogason who, along with Teddy Bjarnason, was one of two Icelanders who featured occasionally during the Martin O'Neill era.

Ironically, though, it was a couple of former team-mates with Rangers connections who helped seal the deal. Steven Lennon and Alan Lowing, both former Murray Park youngsters, were team-mates at Fram, as was Jordan Halsman, once of Motherwell and Morton. "I spoke to them about it and they told me to do it straight away when Celtic came in," said Fridjonsson. "They said it was a no-brainer, even though they played for Rangers . . ."

In truth, despite having a trial at Dutch side Heracles Almelo as well as at Lennoxtown, any alternative prospect never seemed likely to come to pass. The player might not have grown up dreaming of playing for Celtic, but the club's recent Champions League exploits have caught his attention and captured his imagination.

"My first impressions of the place have been brilliant," Fridjonsson said. "Everyone is really kind and it is a family club, so I like it a lot. The stadium is incredible and the facilities at the training ground are amazing, too. I didn't know much about Celtic growing up but during the last few years I have been watching them in the Champions League. I watched the Barcelona game when they won 2-1 and I also watched the Ajax game a few weeks ago when there was a fantastic atmosphere. So I know certain things and have got to understand what Celtic stands for. It will be nice playing with guys like Georgios Samaras, Scotty Brown and Charlie Mulgrew."

Quite how much of an impact Fridjonsson can make with the Celtic first team will remain unclear until after January 1 - first the player will go on holiday following the Icelandic season, then get a mini pre-season to bring himself up to speed during December - but he certainly does not seem burdened by any inferiority complex. He resists occasional comparisons with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but rates technique and hold-up work as the best elements of his game, strengths which make it feasible at least that he could contest Amido Balde's usual place on the bench. "I think it will take time to settle," he said. "Hopefully I can make an impact on the first team but I won't walk into the team. I need to work hard."

The fourth top scorer in the Icelandic league, Fridjonsson signed off a disappointing league season with Fram with a cup win. It could be the first part of an unlikely double. "I scored in the final, so hopefully I can win two cups in one season," he said. "And I think we will win the cup here."