CELTIC last night stole the march on Old Firm rivals Rangers in the pursuit of the loan signing of Pawel Brozek, the Polish striker.

The Trabzonspor player was thought to be in talks with the Ibrox club earlier this week, but Herald Sport understands the 28-year-old is now likely to move to Parkhead. Reports in Poland last night claimed Celtic held talks with Trabzonspor and the player's representatives on Friday. A Celtic source confirmed Neil Lennon's interest in the player.

Brozek could now arrive in Glasgow this weekend to have a medical ahead of a proposed six-month loan move, with Celtic having an option to buy. Capped 32 times by Poland, Brozek made his name at Wisla Krakow before joining Trabzonspor in 2011.

Nikica Jelavic, meanwhile, will miss Rangers' match with Hibernian this afternoon through illness, and the manager Ally McCoist acknowledged that the Croat may have played his last game for the club as speculation heightens over a move away from Ibrox, with West Ham United leading the chase.

"Jelavic has not trained for two days and won't play due to a virus or a bug," said McCoist. "The doc saw him on Wednesday night and [yesterday] morning and says he is not well. Medically, Nikica is not fit to play. That's the truth.

"It's not ideal if [any potential sale] goes to the death, but I won't lie to you. I think we all had a wee feeling that might be the case. It's not ideal, but it's something I can't affect, so we need to wait and see. If he does go, I'd hope there are things I could move on. I certainly have targets."