Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Elyounoussi lands at Celtic three years late but is ready to play today

© SNSMohamed Elyounoussi
Mohamed Elyounoussi

Celtic added a £16-million player to their squad – after passing up the chance to sign him for less than £3m three years ago.

Norway winger Mohamed Elyounoussi joined the Hoops on a season-long loan from Southampton, and trained with his new team-mates yesterday.

The 25-year-old is on stand-by to make a dramatic debut in today’s Old Firm match.

He played against Celtic for Molde in 2015, scoring home and away as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side won both games.

His performances attracted the attention of club’s around Europe, and a fee of 3.2m Euros took him to Swiss Super League outfit, Basel.

Parkhead manager Ronny Deila was keen to recruit his fellow countryman, and the player would have been keen on the move. But it didn’t happen

Elyounoussi said: “I knew about Celtic’s interest back then. From what I’ve heard, I was a bit too expensive.

“I can’t confirm that, but it’s what I heard.

“I remember at that time I really wanted to come to Celtic, especially after playing at the stadium.

“The atmosphere was amazing that night – until we scored.

“It was my wish to come to Celtic at that time. I would have signed if I could. But it’s better late than never.

“I had a really good experience against Celtic, a goal and an assist in both games.

“We had a huge respect for Celtic at the time.

“But now I get the chance to do it for Celtic, rather than against them.”

After helping Basel to an eighth league title in a row, Elyounoussi was bought by Southampton for £16m.

He took part in 16 matches for the Premier League side last season, but found himself out of the manager’s plans for this campaign.

He said: “It didn’t start great because I was injured and it took some time to clear up.

“It was my first game, and I got injured when I’d never suffered one in my career before.

“But I got back, then the manager got sacked, a new manager came in – a lot of things went on and it was hard for me to get momentum.

“But I look back and try to learn from it, rather than regret what has happened so far.

“As a player, you want to play more, so that’s why I’m here. I want to get back to where I was.”

The left-sided attacker knows he will have experienced nothing like this afternoon’s clash with Rangers at Ibrox.

It’s an experience he’s looking forward to.

He went on: “I have played derbies before, but I don’t think there is anything like this in Europe.

“In Norway, it was a rivalry between Molde and Rosenborg, more than a real derby. It was a bit friendly, no real fights or hooligans!

“In Basel, it was more about the football as well.

“From what I’ve heard, there’s a lot of history behind everything the two clubs do here, so I’ve not experienced anything like that.”

Like most players, Elyounoussi is anxious to play a part in making some history in football.

He will get the chance to help Celtic make it nine-in-a-row and go for a quadruple Treble.

“I like the pressure of history and going for the title,” he said.

“I can compare it to my time at Basel when they had won the league seven or eight times in a row.

“The pressure was huge from the fans every year – to win the league, the cup and do well in Europe.

“I liked that pressure and the challenge, so that’s why I am here at Celtic. I want to win more titles.

“It will be a challenge for me to get in the team as there is a lot of competition.

“Celtic have scored a lot of goals already this season, and I will try to help when I get my chance.

“I want to score goals and get assists. There are a lot of games and I think the team will rotate.

“Everyone will be kept on their toes.”