Neil Lennon has drawn a sense of satisfaction from the opening match of Celtic's pre-season tour of Germany and yesterday brought Steven Mouyokolo closer to Parkhead after the former Wolverhampton Wanderers centre-back reportedly agreed terms on a one-year contract.
The 26-year-old featured in the defeat by Ukrainian side Sevastopol on Wednesday and his move is subject to the results of a medical.
Mouyokolo was unable to make much of an impression at Wolves, his three-year spell at Molineux having been interrupted by a loan move to Sochaux in 2011 and a cruciate ligament injury in February last year. He was released in January but now has an opportunity to resurrect his career at the Scottish champions.
"We had a little bit of a mixed bag [against Sevastopol] because we're still carrying some injuries but I was really pleased with the younger boys," said Lennon. "Darnell Fisher was great, Liam Henderson was very good, young Calum Waters, Paul George and Bahrudin Atajic also got run outs. I was really pleased with the attitude.
"Steven Mouyokolo hadn't played 90 minutes in over a year so I thought he handled himself really well. It was a difficult pitch, really long, but it was a good workout.
"You can see what Amido Balde is going to bring you as well. He's a bit raw but he's got great power. The two best chances fell to him, he didn't finish them off but we can see what kind of threat he can be. And ever since Virgil has come in he has looked like a superb player."
Lennon's side to face Cluj is expected to be supplemented further by the inclusion of James Forrest, Anthony Stokes – who rejected the offer of a new contract last month – and Gary Hooper. "We're hoping that they will be a little bit fitter," said Lennon. "Sami [Georgios Samaras] and [Mikael] Lustig will come into contention as well. We'll also have some of the senior boys back – Tom Rogic, Victor [Wanyama] and Emilio [Izaguirre], so we will have more or less a fit squad for the weekend."
The inclusion of Wanyama will seem necessary as Lennon rotates his squad but the Kenyan's future has still to be planned out, with Cardiff City having already agreed a fee with Celtic and the Welsh side are understood to be favourites to sign the midfielder. A bid from Southampton had also been accepted, although Wanyama seemed to spurn the English club's advances and the deal was also complicated by the demands of agents.
"We are not interested in 15 or 20 players. We are interested in maybe two or three key players. Our squad as it is really good already, but we just want to bring in two or three players that reinforce key areas in the squad to become an even better team."
Cardiff's interest had appeared to derail Pochettino's attempts to sign Wanyama but the Southampton manager was unwilling to concede defeat. "It could happen," he added. "We have certain positions that we want to reinforce. I'm confident that our goals will be met."
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