Celtic are set to wrap up the signing of Toulouse centre-back Christopher Jullien, according to Football Insider.
They claimed that Jullien, 26, was flying from France to Austria today, where Celtic have a training camp.
He will sign for a £7million fee on a contract worth £25k-a-week and will replace Dedryck Boyata who joined Hertha Berlin on a free transfer.
The news from FI was backed up by an Instagram post from Jullien later on Thursday morning.
He posted a photo of himself on a plane with the message “Long day in process” with a tick emoji and a shamrock emoji underneath.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BzNXBQ4jS7g/
OPINION
Dedryck Boyata has been solid at the back for Celtic since his £1.8million move from Man City in 2015, although he didn’t cover himself in glory last summer when he downed tools in a bid to force a move through and was branded a “disgrace” by Chris Sutton. In hindsight, it perhaps would have been better to sell then and get a decent fee for the player rather than lose him on a free, especially as injuries limited him to just 19 Premiership appearances last season. However, replacing him with quality is important and it looks like that’s what Celtic are about to do. French football expert Robin Bairner wrote about Jullien in the Herald and pointed out that after a shaky start to last season, the 26-year-old came into his own in the second half of the season. Bairner said that worked out in Celtic’s favour probably knocking almost £2million off his price. Bairner said of Jullien that he has “great strength and aerial capability” and a “steely character”. He also said that he has the potential to be a Premier League player. Jullien himself has said he wants to play at the highest level and will be seeing this as a stepping stone up. There’s no problem with that as long as Celtic can manage his contract a bit better and ensure they make a decent profit on the player.