Celtic face battle over Stefan Scepovic signing

CELTIC face stiff competition from Werder Bremen and PSV Eindhoven as they look to secure a deal that will bring Stefan Scepovic to Glasgow.

Ronny Deila feels Celtic's attack needs something different. Picture: Ian Georgeson

The Serbian international striker has scored 23 goals in 41 games for Sporting Gijon in the second tier of Spanish league football and is thought to available for a fee of around £2.5 million.

Celtic already have Anthony Stokes, Leigh Griffiths and Teemu Pukki vying for the striker’s role in front of Kris Commons, but Hoops manager Ronny Deila believes Scepovic will add something different.

“We are looking for a bigger striker and he is one of the options,” said Deila.

“We are looking for a striker who is good with the crosses – a targetman. While we have good strikers, they are similar. We need different players.”

Celtic do have the advantage of Champions League football should they navigate past Maribor. PSV are in the Europa League while Werder Bremen aren’t in European competition this season.

The club are also still trying to seal a loan move for Rubin Kazan winger Wakaso Mubarak. It was initially hoped the deal would be finished in time to register the player for the first leg meeting against Maribor, which finished 1-1.

However, it appears that the process may rumble on for a few days yet.

“When a player is moving clubs you never know, but I have a good feeling something will happen in the next 10 days,” added Deila.