Celtic are now ‘quite excited’ about 6 ft 4 giant at Parkhead

Celtic are ‘quite excited’ that they were able to get the signing of Oliver Abildgaard over the line on Thursday, according to journalist Dean Jones.

The Hoops brought in the 26-year-old midfielder on a season-long loan deal from Russian outfit Rubin Kazan on deadline day as manager Ange Postecoglou put the finishing touches to his squad.

Postecoglou was in the market for a defensive-minded engine room operator throughout the summer following the departure of Nir Bitton to Maccabi Tel Aviv on a free transfer.

And the astute tactician finally got his wish when Abildgaard was brought to the club in the final few hours of the window.

The Denmark international is Celtic’s third signing from Kazan in recent times following the acquisitions of Sead Haksabanovic last week and Carl Starfelt last year.

“This is a day I’ve been very much looking forward to ever since I heard the possibility of coming here,” Abildgaard told Celtic TV.

“I’ve been following the highlights recently, ever since I heard about the interest, and I’ve also been keeping my eye on Carl Starfelt as well ever since he moved here a year ago.”

Jones has informed GiveMeSport that the Celtic hierarchy felt it was ‘particularly important’ to strengthen the base of their midfield considering the ‘intensity of their season’.

He said: “They’re quite excited about that (signing Abildgaard). They feel like it’s particularly important given the intensity of their season.

“They’ve got a really tough Champions League group, which you can’t expect to get out of, but you want to be competitive. And I think that this is key, to make sure that they’ve got a squad that’s capable of handling that.”

Abildgaard turned out 22 times in all competitions for Kazan last season,