Celtic made just the one deadline day signing last week, luring AC Milan’s Diego Laxalt to Parkhead on loan.
Laxalt, 27, represents something of a coup for Celtic given that he cost Milan €18million (£16million) just over two years ago.
He also featured at the 2018 World Cup with Uruguay, meaning he brings great pedigree to Parkhead for this season.
If he impresses, Celtic may well seek to turn the move permanent next summer, and a first appearance could arrive against Rangers this weekend.
That’s somewhat ironic, given that Laxalt’s former boss at Milan – Gennaro Gattuso – was a former Rangers player himself.
Gattuso didn’t exactly seem to be much of a fan of Laxalt, hence his lack of playing time, and he made some bizarre comments in 2019.
Gattuso told AC Milan Info that Milan only signed Laxalt because Genoa owed them money, and paid by sending Laxalt rather than spending money.
Genoa owed €11million for Gianluca Lapadula, as reported by Football Italia, meaning that value of the fee was covered – and Gattuso didn’t want to be insluting, but suggested that he was signed for that reason only.
“Many transfers were made only because some clubs owed money to us. Without taking anything away from Laxalt and Castillejo. We had problems with UEFA and we had to deal with this too. UEFA doesn’t allows us any kind of operations now,” he added.
Gattuso may not have been a big fan of Laxalt, but Celtic’s new boy can achieve some kind of payback by not only beating Gattuso’s former club this weekend but possibly to the title too.
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