Bellamy ponders return to Paradise

CELTIC manager Neil Lennon believes he will be signing one of the top players in the Barclays Premier League if his loan swoop for Craig Bellamy comes off.

Celtic have opened talks with Manchester City and Bellamy’s representatives as the Wales striker looks set to be frozen out by Roberto Mancini.

Bellamy was left out of City’s Europa League squad for the play-off against Timisoara despite there being two unused spaces.

The snub has fuelled speculation that Mancini will omit the 31-year-old from his 25-man Premier League pool and seek to offload him from the wage bill.

It has also come as a huge surprise to Lennon, who played alongside the City forward when he joined Celtic on loan in 2005.

Lennon said: “I thought he was their best player last year and I would say, outside Chelsea and Manchester United, he was probably the best player in the Premier League.

“We’ve been speaking to his representatives and we’ve been speaking to Man City.

“How far down the line we are will be down to Craig obviously.”

Celtic are likely to face stiff competition from the likes of Tottenham and Sunderland for Bellamy but his arrival would fill the void left by Aiden McGeady’s imminent transfer to Spartak Moscow.

McGeady has undergone a medical with the Russian club and is expected to complete his £9.5 million switch before Celtic kick off their Clydesdale Bank Premier League campaign at Inverness tomorrow.

As Bellamy looks set to leave, Mario Balotelli’s agent is “very confident” the Inter Milan striker will shortly join City after moving an important step forwards in discussions last night.

Balotelli has long been linked with a move to City, where boss Roberto Mancini is keen to be reunited with the youngster he snapped up as Inter coach in 2006. The Italy forward’s agent Mino Raiola believes a deal could go through today, although he admits it is unlikely Balotelli will feature in City’s opener against Tottenham tomorrow.

“Today, there was a step forwards, I can confirm that,” Raiola said. “So I am very confident about closing the deal soon.”

Meanwhile new Liverpool midfielder Christian Poulsen believes he has plenty to prove after his move from Juventus despite being a vastly-experienced international.

The 30-year-old has won 77 caps for Denmark and has been a mainstay in Europe’s top leagues for the last eight years, having featured for Schalke in the Bundesliga, Sevilla in La Liga before moving on to Italy’s Serie A with his former employers.

“I have a lot to prove,” said the veteran of two World Cups, who has signed a three-year deal after joining for an initial £4.5m, with another £1m payable on certain conditions. “If you come to a club like Liverpool, you have to deliver. I will hopefully show I can be a good player for Liverpool.”

Poulsen is eager to rekindle his good working relationship with Hodgson, having previously enjoyed success under Hodgson at Copenhagen although the match against Arsenal may come to early for him.

Elsewhere, Sunderland boss Steve Bruce added another striker to his squad a day after selling Kenwyne Jones to Stoke. Bruce confirmed yesterday that Manchester United youngster Danny Welbeck completed a season-long loan deal.

Bruce, though, remains on the lookout for another striker after recouping £8m from the sale of Trinidad & Tobago international Jones.

“It would be unfair to say that he (Welbeck) is the replacement for Kenwyne,” added Bruce. “There’s still a couple of weeks to go in the market and hopefully the money is there to go and spend it.”

Meanwhile, Ricardo Carvalho’s arrival from Chelsea yesterday may not be Real Madrid’s last bit of business this summer, according to general manager Jorge Valdano.

Carvalho completed an €8m move from Premier League champions Chelsea after passing a medical. He becomes the fifth summer signing for Real, after Sami Khedira, Pedro Leon, Angel di Maria and Sergio Canales, as manager Jose Mourinho looks to wrestle the Spanish title from bitter rivals Barcelona in his first season in charge.

Real have been linked with a move for Germany star Mesut Ozil while squad players like Lassana Diarra could move on thanks to this summer’s influx of players.