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Mohamed Elyounoussi did not tell Norway teammate Kristoffer Ajer about Celtic move

Elyounoussi did not tell Norway teammate Ajer about Celtic move
© Reuters
The winger has joined on loan from Southampton.

Mohamed Elyounoussi revealed he surprised Norway team-mate Kristoffer Ajer by turning up to sign for Celtic without telling him.

The on-loan Southampton winger sought advice from Saints team-mate Stuart Armstrong about life in Glasgow but decided to leave Ajer alone to deal with football matters.

He said on the Celtic website: "It was more of a surprise for Kristoffer because I didn't talk to him before I signed.

"I didn't want to bother him since the team were preparing for the play-off game against AIK. In the end, I had heard enough to convince me to come here anyway, but now that I'm at Celtic it's good to talk to him about it.

"I'm proud to be part of the club, to come here and I'm looking forward to the season. Celtic is a massive club with a lot of fans, and I like the challenge of trying to win games and win titles."

The 25-year-old could make his debut in Sunday's clash with Rangers at Ibrox in what is an eagerly-awaited contest between two form teams.

But Celtic manager Neil Lennon has rubbished talk of the derby meeting setting a marker for the title race.

Both Celtic and Rangers have won their opening three games and qualified for the Europa League group stages ahead of their meeting at Ibrox on Saturday.

But Lennon believes it is too early to read much into the outcome of the derby.

"That's just rubbish all that talk," he said. "It's the fourth game of the season. There's another 34 to go after that.

"You can ask me that maybe around February/March when we will have some sort of idea of where we are in the table. But after four games...

"We get too hysterical too early and it's almost game by game, every performance gets analysed to death.

"To say it's a marker, a defining moment in the season, sorry I'm not buying into that talk."

Lennon claims a goalless encounter would not necessarily be a surprise.

"It would and then it wouldn't because you can't predict these games," he said.

"I'd be delighted to keep a clean sheet. I'd fancy our chances to nick a goal or two.

"There's a lot of positive contributions in the goal stakes from a lot of areas and we scored from a set play on Thursday night, which delighted me.

"We have scored nine in the last three games so that is good form by any standard."

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Mohamed Elyounoussi pictured in May 2019
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
Championship Group
1Celtic220085275884
2RangersRangers220078255381
3Hearts20114637963
4Kilmarnock20114438652
5St Mirren21014246-446
6Dundee20024659-1341
Relegation Group
1Hibernian21014854-642
2Aberdeen22003749-1241
3Motherwell21015053-340
4Ross County21013459-2533
5St Johnstone20022550-2531
RLivingston21012563-3821
 
First Phase
1Celtic33246380265478
2RangersRangers33243672234975
3Hearts33195946341262
4Kilmarnock33131284334951
5St Mirren33127143843-543
6Dundee331011124454-1041
7Hibernian33912124451-739
8Motherwell33813124651-537
9Aberdeen33811143549-1435
10St Johnstone33710162446-2231
11Ross County3379173256-2430
RLivingston3339212259-3718


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