Right-back Lustig in talks

NEIL Lennon has confirmed that Celtic are in talks with Swedish international defender Mikael Lustig as efforts are stepped up to bring him to the club in January.

Lustig, 24, has only days of his contract with Norwegian side Rosenborg left to run and has been a long-term target for Lennon, whose wish is for the player to fill the right-back slot. Lustig can also play at centre-half and given Celtic’s current difficulties in this area, where Lustig’s international colleague, Daniel Majstorovic, is the only currently fit first-team player, his addition to the ranks would be welcomed by Lennon.

However, the manager was careful not to build up the hopes of the fans yesterday following last week’s Bolo Zenden episode, when Lennon was left frustrated by the failure to agree terms with the former Barcelona winger. “He is a player we went to watch,” he said of Lustig, who, he added, has been on “our radar” for 18 months. “Whether a deal gets done I don’t know – nothing has been agreed yet. We do like him,” he continued. “We like his make-up. He is a good defender, and a good footballer.

“We are in talks, that’s as far as it’s gone. Hopefully we’d bring him in January if we could. He’s an international player and he’s on a Bosman. I like his attributes. Whether we can get a deal done is another thing.”

Celtic continued to train at the club’s old Barrowfield training field yesterday ahead of tonight’s re-arranged home Scottish Premier League clash with Dunfermline.

On Friday, Lennon proposed the notion that the soggier pitches at the club’s training academy at Lennoxtown were to blame for the high incidence of soft-tissue injuries among the players.

“It’s just a theory,” said Lennon. “It’s just another area which needs to be looked at. I have not sat down and discussed it yet but we will do over the next couple of days.”