Celtic have added Estonian winger Sander Puri to the ever-growing number of trialists vying to impress Tony Mowbray at Lennoxtown this week. The 21-year-old saw a deal with Borussia Dortmund fall through earlier this season after his contract with Levadia Tallinn came to an end.
Puri is said to have come to Celtic's attention after a star performance against Brazil in an international friendly in August. A move to Germany though is said to still be on the cards with Werder Bremen keen to convince the player to pursue his dream of playing in the Bundesliga.
As he ably demonstrates in a YouTube video of his performance against Brazil, Puri is full of tricks and has a devastating turn of pace that would certainly worry the SPL's full-backs.
His audition clip also shows his ability to use that speed to support his team when without the ball as well, with a fine tracking run on Kaka ending in a perfectly executed tackle on the Real Madrid star.
Puri's danger even becomes such a bother for the Brazilian superstars that they resort to taking it in turns to hack the Tartu-born midfielder down in a desperate attempt to end his terrorising runs.
His international debut came in 2008 in a Baltic Cup match with Latvia. He has since gone on to earn 17 caps and has two goals, with his first strike coming in a draw with Lithuania. He then scored in a 1-0 home win over Armenia during Estonia's failed 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, in which they finished fifth in Group Five.
Despite being out of contract with Levadia, Celtic would have to pay compensation to the Estonian capital club because he is under 23 and they have trained the player for four years of his development.
The Estonian joins Honduran defender Osman Chavez and Hungarian quartet Zsolt Korcsmar, Daniel Kovacs, Matyas Magos and Krisztian Simon at training this week as Celtic prepare for their Europa League match against Hapoel Tel-Aviv and then a home league game with Aberdeen.
Also checking in this week was Korean midfielder Ki Sung-Yong. The player has agreed terms on a reported £2 million move from FC Seoul and only needs to pass a medical before Celtic will announce his January arrival.
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