Scottish football: Celtic eye up Real Madrid player, Rangers star hits out, Scotland squad set for pay day

Celtic are running the rule over a new goalkeeper, while the Scotland squad are in line for a Euro 2024 bonus.

We round up some of the headlines on Tuesday morning across Scottish football ...

Celtic linked with new goalkeeper

Celtic have been linked with Real Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin. The Daily Record is reporting that Celtic chiefs are looking at a number of goalkeepers, with current No 1 Joe Hart out of contract at the end of the season. Lunin, a 24-year-old Ukrainian internationalist, is the deputy at Real Madrid to Thibault Courtois but has started a couple of matches this season.

Real Madrid's goalkeeper Andriy Lunin is reportedly a target for Celtic.

Johnston scores on first start Ireland start

Celtic winger Mikey Johnston made his first start for Republic of Ireland last night against Gibraltar and scored his first goal in the 4-0 win. Johnston, 24, has not featured for Celtic this season due to a back injury but has now appeared in successive matches for the Irish. Celtic team-mate Liam Scales played in defence, while Aberdeen midfielder Jamie McGrath chipped in with two assists.

Brown hails McGregor

Former Celtic captain Scott Brown has hailed the impact of his successor Callum McGregor at the club, believing the midfielder has taken to his game to another level since being handed the skipper’s armband. “The expectation of being captain at Celtic has pushed his game on to another level,” said Brown. “A lot of people could have gone under but he’s controlled himself, understood the role and he’s relished the challenge to be perfectly honest. I wouldn’t say I held his hand, I helped him through tough times when we both played together and now he’ll be doing the exact same to other lads. I’ve passed that on to him and he has shown his qualities as well, whether it’s Champions League, with Scotland, or in games against Rangers or St Johnstone. He is that man everyone looks to to make something happen.”

Cantwell perplexed by Sutton

Rangers playmaker Todd Cantwell has called ex-Celtic striker and current pundit Chris Sutton an “attention seeker” following comments he has made about him. Sutton has been a critic of Cantwell since he arrived in Scotland, despite being fulsome in his praise of him while he played for Norwich. "I find it very bizarre,” said Cantwell. “I’ll be completely honest, my stance on it is clear. You have pundits and ex footballers and their life is completely different because they don’t have the opportunity to play football anymore.

"I can’t speak about what it’s like to be an ex footballer because I’m obviously still a current footballer. There’s one thing I can’t understand when it comes to pundits who used to play football which is jumping on players or what I would call what Chris Sutton does is being an attention seeker. I find it very bizarre because if you had a good career why are you sitting on twitter hammering into a lad that you had an interview with saying ‘you’re an amazing player, an amazing person’ when back at Norwich and then just forget about it.

"For me, it’s not real. He’s playing up to his links with Celtic. He needs to stay relevant and that’s sad for me. If I’m an ex player and I’m tweeting a 25-year-old to stay relevant then I’d be saying ‘what am I doing’. But that’s just me, I don’t know what he’s sat at home doing.

"For me it’s ‘why are you so interested in Todd Cantwell?’, ‘why are you so interested in Rangers?’. You played for Celtic, fantastic. Support Celtic. Tweet about Celtic. You love them, that’s fine. For me he frustrates me and the reason I’ve had a couple of chomps and I don’t chomp on much is because he spoke to me at Norwich and what a fantastic footballer I was. ‘The world’s at your feet Todd’, ‘You’re a great guy Todd’. All of this and then I sign for Rangers and it’s like ‘just forget everything I said before, I’m going to start a feud with you on twitter’."

Scotland players to get Euro 2024 prize

The Scotland squad is set to pocket a sizeable bonus for reaching the European Championships next summer. The Sun is reporting that Steve Clarke’s men will receive close to £1million that will be shared among the group.