O’Neill move to Celtic not ruled out by Sjoholm

HALMSTAD chairman Bengt Sjoholm has played down speculation linking utility man Mikael Nilsson with a move to Celtic but has not ruled out a possible move by Martin O’Neill after Sweden were knocked out of Euro 2004.

The Scottish Premier League champions have been strongly linked with a move for the Sweden international, who was part of the side defeated by Holland in a penalty shoot-out on Saturday.

But the Halmstad chief maintains Southampton are still in pole position for the 26-year-old as the only confirmed interested club, although there other European clubs who could come in.

Halmstad currently lead the Swedish title race by two points and Sjoholm concedes he is astride a double-edged sword over whether to get a transfer fee for Nilsson, whose contract ends at the end of the year, or risk him signing a pre-contract agreement somewhere else.