Brown happy to sign once ‘nitpicking’ over

Scott Brown admits only his “nitpicking” is preventing him signing a new deal for Celtic.

The Parkhead skipper reiterated yesterday that he is close to extending his current contract which ends next summer.

Asked what the hold-up was, he replied: “It’s just me nitpicking to be perfectly honest.

“Hopefully [it will be done] within the next one or two weeks.”

The Scotland midfielder denies contract talks have been a distraction. “Not in the slightest,” he said. “I just continue with my game, pretty much as I do every week and when it happens it happens.”

Brown then claimed that the decision of team-mates Emilio Izaguirre and Charlie Mulgrew over the weekend to extend their contracts at Celtic until 2015 had been encouraging.

“Definitely, it looks like the club is going forward by tying those players down,” said the former Hibernian player. “It’s great for the club and shows we are trying to keep the players who have been doing well in the last couple of seasons.”

Brown will be a key figure for Scotland during the next week, as he joins up with Craig Levein’s squad this week ahead of the crucial Euro 2012 qualifying double-header against the Czech Republic and Lithuania, with both matches at Hampden.

Having come through Hibs’ youth ranks and helped the Easter Road club to glory in the 2007 League Cup, Brown joined Celtic for £4.4 million, and was named players’ player of the year in the 2008-09 season.