Parkhead side may be tempted to go through the moves once again as familiar face enters the frame

Stewart Fisher

Sports Writer

Wednesday 6 June 2012

AS prospective Celtic signings go, Leon Best is the equivalent of the bad penny that just will not go away.

Leon Best would be inexpensive

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Stewart Fisher

His name having been mentioned as a plausible target as far back as the Tony Mowbray era, then re-emerging in the summer of 2011, the 25-year-old finally appeared likely to follow the Robbie Keane-route into the club in January, a Republic of Ireland international striker parachuted in at the 11th hour.

This, though, was a best-laid plan which failed to come to fruition, a deadline day move that did not happen. Although the two clubs had reached agreement on the transfer, the player knocked the deal back for family reasons, ostensibly because his first son, Milan, was only born in November.But five months is a long time in football. Given Neil Lennon's obvious admiration for the player and need for a target man, not to mention a restatement of Newcastle's determination that the player has no long-term future at the club, the question may well be asked again in the next few weeks. Sources in the North East yesterday suggested that Alan Pardew's side would accept a fee in the region of £1m, and with wages not thought to be a problem, the Parkhead side could seize on a fourth chance to make their sales pitch. The striker started no fewer than 19 games in Newcastle's inspired Barclays Premier League campaign last season – a fact which is widely forgotten amid the excellent late- season form of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse. And it would certainly be a cheaper option, although one without the same resale value, than a move for Jordan Rhodes, the prolific young Huddersfield Town and Scotland striker who has also been linked with Everton, Reading, West Ham United and Fulham. Guillaume Beuzelin, the former Hibernian midfielder who played with Best at Coventry City during the 2008-09 season, thinks the deal could make enough sense to both parties for it to be fourth time lucky. Any player used to gracing the English top flight these days might require a bit of encouragement to move to a Scottish game with an uncertain future, but Celtic offer Champions League football.Although there is likely to be interest from other English clubs – Aston Villa are also thought to be admirers – it may be in Celtic's interests to conduct their business as quickly as possible, with a view to those qualifying ties looming at the very end of July."He is 25 and that is the age where you have to think twice about your next move," said Beuzelin, now a coach at Falkirk's academy. "The Scottish game is not the same as it was, having a career in Scotland can be difficult now. But it could be a good fit for Leon. He plays for the Republic of Ireland, so there is a link there. He can win medals up here and experience Champions League football. I don't think Newcastle will do as well next year, and clearly he won't play much, if any, part."He isn't the quickest. But he is unbelievably strong, very good in the air, a good target man and a very good finisher too. He reminds me in some ways of John Hartson. His strike is so powerful – he could strike the ball with a sidefoot, but it was the same strength as me putting my laces through it."Best has had his run-ins with the Newcastle hierarchy, but he has been popular with the fans at most clubs he has been at. "I remember we played against Blackburn in the last 16 of the FA Cup and he was the best player on the park by a mile," Beuzelin said. "He broke his nose, or his jaw, and he played on with a mask. I remember that all the Coventry fans turned up with a mask in his honour."

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Parkhead side may be tempted to go through the moves once again as familiar face enters the frame

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