O'Neill resorts to loan deals

Celtic manager Martin O’Neill admits he has no cash to buy new players – and that any new faces at Parkhead will have to be loan deals.

The Hoops boss was given the green-light to buy Stephen Pearson from Motherwell for £350,000 (€508,260) last week but lost out on the chance to snap up another highly-rated Scottish youngster.

O’Neill was made aware of Kilmarnock defender Peter Canero’s decision to quit Rugby Park but was told there was no money left in the kitty to buy the 23-year-old.

Instead, Canero agreed terms on a two and a half year deal with Leicester City this afternoon – the club O’Neill left for Celtic.

Now the Hoops boss will turn his attentions to players available on loan to freshen up his squad before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

O’Neill said: “I am always interested in good, young players that might do a job for Celtic but at this minute we are not in a position to do anything.

“I was made aware, not only that Peter Canero was out of contract, but also that he was going down to Leicester but I am not in a position to do anything in terms of the market.

“I have made enquiries about players but they would be on loan.

“We have bought Stephen Pearson from Motherwell and hopefully he will do fine.”

While no new players will be arriving at Celtic, O’Neill insists one of their top players will not be leaving either.

John Hartson has been linked with a move to Fulham but O’Neill branded talk of a switch to the London club as “pure speculation” and insisted he would not welcome an approach anyway.

The Celtic boss said: “I have heard absolutely nothing, not at thing.

“Until someone from Fulham approaches me about the situation from Fulham then I will treat it as pure speculation.

“If I did receive an approach then I wouldn’t welcome it – we wouldn’t want to lose him.”

Celtic may be out of the Champions League but they still have a chance to emulate last year’s success in the UEFA Cup and they remain runaway leaders in the title race.

O’Neill believes those European and domestic commitments are a good enough reason to hold onto players like Hartson.

He added: “We are still involved in European football, even though that may only be for another two games, but we want to strive on from there.

“We are in a position in the league where we want to keep going and the next month will be a severe test for us so I would like the bulk of the quality players here.”

Celtic defender Bobo Balde will be back in the country for Sunday’s trip to Tynecastle to take on Hearts after training with Guinea ahead of the African Nations Cup.

But the influential player is set to miss several games for the Hoops once the competition gets underway and O’Neill admits all he can do is hope Balde remains free of injury.

He said: “Of course he will be a loss, he is a very big player for us.

“How long he will be away depends on how well his national team does and going by the group they’re in then I think they could go as far as the quarter-finals.

“I could say that I hope they lose and he comes back quickly but hopefully they’ll win a few games and he will come back injury-free.”