NEIL Lennon said he wanted a striker and a defender to enhance his Celtic squad and last night he landed them, along with a goalkeeper.
On the other side of the city, Rangers continued to discuss terms with David Templeton right up until the midnight deadline, but Ryan McGowan, his Hearts team-mate, left Rangers' training ground last night after turning down an opportunity to move to the third division club.
Whether Miku and Efe Ambrose were Lennon's first choices ahead of the closure of the SPL window at 11pm was unclear – the club were linked with several players during the course of a frenetic day – but the pair will now be relied upon to help Celtic make an impression against Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow in the Champions League and to help successfully defend their Clydesdale Bank Premier League title.
The goalkeeper is 25-year-old Slovak Lubos Kamenar, signed from the French club Nantes on a year-long loan as back up for Fraser Forster, while Lennon has said he is still keen to bring in an unidentified striker who is currently without a club.
Miku, the nickname of Nicolas Fedor, a Venezuelan international, joined from the Spanish club Getafe, also on a season-long loan. The 27-year-old attacks from the left and is an experienced goal scorer. He played for his country for six years and spent all of his career in Spain, beginning at Valencia and going to five clubs on loan before joining Getafe in 2010. Earlier in the week he had been strongly linked with Swansea City.
Ambrose emerged as a target on the eve of Celtic's qualification for the group stages of the Champions League and was confirmed last night as a permanent signing on a three-year deal, costing around £1.5m.
The Nigerian internationalist, who was in his country's silver medal-winning Olympic squad in Beijing in 2008, has been with FC Ashdod in the Israeli Premier League for the past three seasons. He can play in central defence or as a holding midfielder. "I am the kind of player who plays where it is of benefit to the team," he said in an interview for the Celtic website last night. "If the manager trusts me to play in midfield or defence, then I trust him and I am the kind of player who will give 100%, whatever the coach asks of me.
"I have come here to find we are in the same [Champions League] group as Barcelona, Benfica and Spartak Moscow. It's a lovely group, you might call it the group of death and it will be hard, but hard work always pays. I am just looking forward to meeting my team-mates now, there is no better place for me than Scotland.
"Today is one of the happiest days of my life, signing for one of the biggest clubs in the world, a club I have known about since I was young. I just can't wait to get started, to play in front of the fans and call this place home."
The day had contained the usual amount of speculation and half-truths. Lennon had tweeted "phone is busy today" earlier in the afternoon and it must have been, given the players with which the club was linked. Either as permanent or loan signings Celtic were said to want – among others – Marvin Ogunjimi, Helder Barbosa, Johnny Russell, David Goodwillie and Chris Humphrey.
Huddersfield Town expressed an interest in Anthony Stokes, which came to nothing, although squad player Andre Blackman did leave on loan to Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Daryl Murphy left, too, after agreeing another season-long loan deal with Ipswich Town.
A fee was understood to have been agreed in principle with Real Mallorca for the Belgian international forward Ogunjim, only for the Spanish club to ask for more after Celtic qualified for the Champions League. Celtic were also interested in Russell but were not prepared to match Dundee United's asking price of £2m.
Rangers, meanwhile, agreed a fee with Hearts for winger Templeton, who made the trip across the country for a medical after the Tynecastle squad returned to Edinburgh late in the afternoon following their 1-1 draw with Liverpool at Anfield in the Europa League play-off round. McGowan made the same journey later, having initially been unconvinced that moving to Ibrox was the right move. He is out of contract at the end of the season.
McCoist also lost another defender, having freed Kirk Broadfoot last Thursday, with Carlos Bocangra, the team captain, joining the Spanish side Racing Santander on loan for the rest of the season. The American wanted to move to protect his place in the international squad.
As well as Templeton and McGowan, Rangers tried to sign Francesco Stella, the Australian forward, who underwent a medical yesterday. After the Scottish Football League transfer window closed at midnight, Rangers' 12-month registration embargo began, meaning that McCoist can only sign players under the age of 18 until next September, when he can sign free agents.
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