Delight as Celtic sign Irish Under-15s captain
THE Celtic Youth Academy are delighted to announce that they have completed the signing of highly-rated Republic of Ireland Under-15 captain, Brandon Payne.
The 15-year-old, who currently plays with Dublin-based side, Lucan United, has penned a pre-contract agreement with the club. He will join the Hoops in January 2014 on a three-year deal.
A box-to-box midfielder, Payne had attracted interest from a number of clubs on this side of the Irish Sea but Celtic pulled out all the stops and won the race for his signature.
The club brought the teenager and his family over to Glasgow, and Neil Lennon and Chief Executive Peter Lawwell were both involved in helping to convince the youngster that his future lay in Paradise.
Speaking to the official website, Celtic´s Head of Youth, Chris McCart said: "We had been monitoring Brandon, and there had been real interest in him from a lot of the English clubs, so it was great credit to get someone of his calibre signed.
"He is a very good standard, with being captain of the Republic of Ireland Under-15s, and is the type of player we want to bring to Celtic.
"Peter Lawwell and Neil Lennon were both involved in the signing process. We brought his family across and they were absolutely delighted with that, and the manager also brought him in for a small part of the training.
"His father and family are massive Celtic fans so it was a dream come true for them to come over and meet Neil Lennon and the first-team staff. It´s a great selling point for us in Ireland that there is that attachment to Celtic there. He really is signing for his boyhood heroes.
"Brandon is still young and has a lot of hard work ahead, and everyone appreciates that, but considering the amount of English clubs who were trying to sign him, this is an excellent signing for us."
Payne will initially be part of the club´s Under-17 set-up and will work under Professional Academy manager, Tommy McIntyre, and U16 Academy manager, Michael O´Halloran.
And his capture fits in with the Celtic Academy´s recruitment strategy of only bringing in players from outwith Scotland who are of an exceptional standard.
"It´s been a long while since we have signed a captain from any age group within the Republic, so again we are setting out the benchmark in the standard of player we are looking to sign now," explained McCart.
"We want to make sure if we are bringing someone in that we raise the bar. Brandon is a box-to-box player. He can receive, pass and score goals. He models himself on one of the current Celtic players but I won´t mention who as I don´t want to put pressure on him.
"But he is one we are excited about getting. We only want to bring in players who will add to the growing amount of Scottish internationalists we have in the Academy, and we feel he will certainly do that.
"We also have to say a big thanks to Lucan United, particularly John Doyle, their chairman, and Ciaran Masterton, their team manager, who were excellent to deal with and very professional.
"But the major factor in it was the father being a huge Celtic fan," he added. "His house is a shrine to Celtic, and his mum and dad travel across every couple of weeks. That was a major influence in getting him, and we are absolutely delighted."
17. SPL Spieltag
21. Dezember 16 Uhr DZ
Celtic Park
Celtic FC - Aberdeen
21. Dezember 16 Uhr DZ
Celtic Park
Celtic FC - Aberdeen
Was solls, 15 Millionen Euro gehören uns, ok ein wenig davon geht nach Belgien. 
