Celtic make formal offer for Juan Arango - reports

Celtic have made an offer to sign Real Mallorca attacking midfielder Juan Arango, according to reports in Venezuela - and could secure the player for around €4million if they beat off competition from Borussia Monchengladbach and Trabzonspor.

The 29-year-old, who has been capped 83 times for his country since making his international debut in 1999, is known as 'Arangol' in his homeland due to his goalscoring exploits and is considered one of Venezuela's greatest-ever players.

Arango has been with Real Mallorca since 2004 but has been linked with a move to the English Premier League in recent weeks. However, the Venezuelan press claim Celtic have made a formal offer and could secure the player within the next few days - if Mallorca's price-tag is met.



Given Celtic's recent penchant for signing younger players in order to develop them before throwing them into the first team (in theory, at least), a move for a 29-year-old would be something of a change. However, a mix of experience and youth would be ideal, so even if Arango was only good for two years, it could prove to be a highly-profitable two years.

What does seem harder to understand, however, is that if Arango is actually as good as his video clips, statistics and international caps suggest, why hasn't he made the move to a slightly higher rung of the ladder than Mallorca? And why would he now consider a move to Celtic, especially given Champions League football is far from guaranteed?

Whatever the accuracy of the reports, and an expert in the Venezuelan would know more about that, at least the week has started with a more interesting transfer rumour than those that have gone before. Perhaps the summer will prove to be interesting after all!

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