Baggies close in on Beattie

wd2187499celtics-beattie.jpgAlbion expect to complete the signing of Celtic striker Craig Beattie by the end of the week.

The Baggies are sorting out the final contractual details with the Scottish international, but don’t anticipate any problems with the transfer after seeing off competition from Hearts.

Sources in Scotland claim the deal is expected to cost around £1.25m with an extra £500,000, and the player is set to join his new team-mates for the start of pre-season training on July 2.

At 23, Beattie had one year left on his contract and was heading out of Parkhead after the arrival of Chris Killen from Hibernian and Scott McDonald from Motherwell this summer.

Beattie will be looking to prove himself south of the border after hamstring injuries restricted him to 22 starts in four years – albeit with a healthy scoring record of 16 goals – with a further 43 appearances coming off the bench.

Described as quick and a player who can also win headers, Beattie has four full caps, having got off the mark in the recent Euro 2008 qualifier against Georgia.

After starting his career at arch rivals Rangers, he failed to make an impression at Ibrox before Martin O’Neill took him to Celtic and gave him his chance, initially as a wide right player before he switched up front.

Albion boss Tony Mowbray tried to take him on loan when he was in charge of Hibernian, but Celtic wouldn’t allow the move to go ahead.

The arrival of Beattie should pave the way for the sale of Diomansy Kamara.

Fulham remain keen on the Baggies’ top scorer, but Albion have yet to accept a bid from the Cottagers, despite reports today saying a £4.5m deal had been struck.

Sunderland are also waiting on Albion, having bid £5m for Paul Robinson and Paul McShane.

Albion have distanced themselves from reports suggesting Villa could offer £5m plus loan players for midfielder Jason Koumas.

A Baggies source said the club had not received any bid from Villa, while they hadn’t been offered any loan players.

Mowbray, however, hasn’t ruled out the option of taking players on a temporary basis this season.

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31 Comments

  1. AJ Trioxin said:

    Oh dear.

    I can quite safely rule the Tesco Boys out of a return to the Premiership this coming season.

  2. mark said:

    oh dear not another wolves fan commenting on us sad sad sad think beattie will do a really good job for us at least he is young and has something to prove .

  3. Colin (Wolves) said:

    Craig who?

    keep up the good work Sandwell Town

  4. COLLEY GATE BAGGIE said:

    you lead a sad life aj.28 mins after this was posted you come on and make a comment like that. are you not intrested in what is going on at your own little club ?.i would rather be a tesco bag than a cheap and nasty netto bag.

  5. AJ Trioxin said:

    Actually I’m a web designer and web manager, so i spend about 6 hours a day on the net, working.

    I come on here to look at the lastest headlines.

    But well done for being sad enough to work that out.

    Yes, I’d rather be an Albion fan too, what with most of the players WANTING to leave the club.

  6. AJ Trioxin said:

    Actually I’m a web manager, so I spend most of my time working on the net. Unlike yourself, who is obviously sad enough to work out when I posted that.

    Congrats on your new signing, if you wanted that kind of player, you should of asked us, we have a polish striker we are waiting to offload.

    Yes, ofcouse you would rather be a tesco boy. Who wouldn’t be? What with the mass exodus of players and all.

  7. Neil said:

    An international striker from Celtic or an unproven striker from Scunthorpe, Dingles getting carried away yet again! Darren Ward’s a top signing as well…well done “Merlin” Mick!!!

  8. worcester baggie said:

    THATS MORE GOALS IN THE BACK OF THE DINGLE NET THEN…LOVELY JUBBLY

  9. D Forrester said:

    Aj Toxic. Concenrate on your own Club cause you are not worthy of talking dribble about Mowbrays boys.Colin(Dingle they said who? to Knightly and Keough last year and look how they turned out, any player who plays for his country can not be that bad even if it is only Scotland, remember the boy Miller that use to wear dirty looking coloured top.

  10. Cot said:

    Sign there is some money heading Wolves way. We might loose a few players but we will generate more from the sale of one player than Wolves will be able to spend all Summer long and our finances are sound enough for all transfers funds to go back into team building. So come on Wolves fans concentrate on shaping your own team and don’t get too carried away.

  11. Bridget & Tony said:

    We heard on Radio WM last night that Beattie had a bad season last season and is surplus to requirements at Celtic
    A fee of around £750 - £1M mentioned also - A bit of a low profile purchase in our view - and yet another striker that celtic doesnt want anymore - tell us what happened with the last striker you got from Celtic? Wasn’t it the awol Hartson?

    Oh Lordy Lordy Lordy Its all down hill from here! ;-)

    Up the Wolves!!!

  12. Ron said:

    Oooohhhh! A web designer and a web manager. My what a clever chap you are. Why don’t you get on designing and stop leaving silly comments on this site. I can’t believe how many dingles interfere on here. Is the tatters news really that boring.

  13. funkster76 said:

    Lol a proven international. Don’t make laugh…Rangers dropped him, and so have celtic…Didn’t celtic take kenny miller!!! He might be a good buy…who knows.

  14. smethwick baggie said:

    The interfering dingles who keep coming on here with these comments about Tesco, whatever they’re supposed to mean, can say whatever they like, but the bottom line is this. We beat you 4 times out of five last season and although we didn’t make the premier league ourselves at least we made sure you lot didn’t either.

  15. AJ Trioxin said:

    Yeah I am clever. Chars. =]

    I can’t believe you are comparing Craig Beattie to Billy Sharp.

    How many goals did each score last season?

    Yeah, I thought so.

    The reason why Celtic are letting him go, is because he is no good.

    £1 million for a player who has done nothing. What a bargain! =/

    Kenny Miller was proven talent. He was a rising star, and was actually scoring a few goals for Rangers when playing. Beattie on the other hand….hasn’t. He’s been rotting in the reserves for quite some time now.

    So next season, you’ll have Beattie, a 33 year old Phillips, Ronald MacDonald, and well….Hartson? Who else?

  16. The laugher said:

    Hee Hee more retarded dingles pretending they’ve got jobs and have an opinion about football. Pal the free internet zone at the library has expired now so run along and sign on eh?

    PS - Where’s your £30m then? LOL

    Boing Boing

  17. Merlin Mick's Gold & Black Army said:

    Beattie can sit on the bench with Hartson and count his wages as well.

    Remember Hartson came from Celtic and look what a waste of money he has been.

  18. Jeff said:

    I have just read comments attributed to Scotland manager Alex McLeish. He sees Craig Beattie as a player low on confidence and able to score goals if he has a prolonged run in the first team. However it appears he struggles to convert the easier goalscoring opportunities but scores the more difficult ones.His record of 1 goal every 4 games does not look good. Around 11 per season!!!! An obvious Ellington replacement then!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

  19. smethwick baggie said:

    Yes Kenny Miller was a rising star. That’s why he got away from Dingleland as quick as possible.

  20. STEVEWBA said:

    Bridget and Tony,
    That AWOL striker you refered to in your last post manged to score against your shower…the only thing looking AWOL that day was your defence…again.

  21. Neil said:

    Just read the “Keogh the lure for Sharp” story, don’t usually bother with Wolves story but wanted to test a theory…that’s right, not one comment from an Albion fan yet every piece of news concerning Albion is littered with the bitter and delusional rantings of the Dingles!

  22. Happy_Baggie said:

    The only reason the dog heads like to read our stuff is cos there is nothing worth watching on theirs - a bit like the dross at the custard bowl.
    Can’t wait to stuff them again this year..
    BOING BOING ALL THE WAY !!!!

  23. John McQuillan said:

    NEIL
    IF YOU DIDN’T GET COMMENTS FROM WOLVES SUPPORTERS ON HERE, YOU’D HAVE NOTHING SENSIBLE TO READ
    HI HO WOLVERHAMPTON!!(CITY)

  24. SKYE BAGGIE said:

    AJ Trioxin….
    I wouldn’t go leaving any personal details about yourself on this forum, there are some real nutters who frequent these pages. You’ll end up being stalked, probably by Bridget & Tony, they’re well freaky!

    Boing Boing in the Hebrides.

  25. John McQuillan said:

    SKYE BOGGIE

    ANOTHER EXILE?

  26. John McQuillan said:

    22 STARTS in 4 YEARS? SOUNDS LIKE ANOTHER EX CELTIC PLAYER WE COULD MENTION!!

  27. Kevin S said:

    Maybe this is the sort of player we need, not a billy big time. Can’t understand why we don’t let the unhappy players go, we could build a hungry side with the money, mind you who’s to say Peace will put it into team building

  28. Jeff said:

    Its all very well getting in the free transfer, low transfer fee, young and hungry players on low wages but if they manage to get Albion into the Premiership, will they be good enough to keep us there. I don’t think so.

  29. Wolves Mick said:

    The reason we “like to read your stuff” and make comments is because it winds you all up a treat. The reason there are no Baggie comments on the Wolves site is that you dont have enough fans to go round !! I am a brain surgeon black belt karate world champion by the way ;-)…or is that Black Belted Karaoke World Champion ?

  30. Tipton Baggie said:

    i totally agree with you Kevin S, we dont need big name players because look at players we’ve brought like koumas n davies who have made themselves known after cummin to us… possible good signing on the way, just have to wait n see but we cant really judge him till weve seen him in action in the blue n white shirt.

  31. Happy_Baggie said:

    The reason there aint many baggies comments on your site is cos the Daily Dingle won’t put them on - probably like this one.
    Well done to Billy Sharp for having the brains not to wear the cack and black - how bad do you look now lads ?