Celtic manager Ronny Deila has secured his first summer capture with the signing of Manchester City defender Dedryck Boyata.
Boyata joins the Glasgow side having failed to earn a regular spot in Manuel Pellegrini’s first team at the Etihad Stadium.
The 24-year-old Belgian made six appearances for City last season but he has been allowed leave the club to join Celtic for a fee reported to be around £1.5million.
Boyata will be a like-for-like replacement in Glasgow for City defender Jason Denayer who returns to his parent club after a season-long loan in Scotland.
Boyata was easily convinced by Deila to make the move to the Scottish Premiership champions.
“The manager came to see me in Manchester and I spoke to him about having me here and all the ideas he had for me playing for the team,” said Boyata.
“So I was very pleased with his plans and from that point I thought that moving to Celtic would be a good idea and we tried to do everything right for me to move here.”
Deila will be hoping that Boyata can form an effective partnership with Celtic’s 23-year-old Dutch central defender Virgil van Djik.
Van Djik is a reported target for a number of top-flight clubs in England but the Celtic boss said recently he will not be allowed leave the club before the Champions League qualifiers are over.
“He is going to be here. He is not going anywhere before the qualifiers,” the Norwegian said. “Hopefully he is going to be here for a long, long time.”
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