Celtic hold off Rangers to land Hartley's signature

CELTIC last night turned the tables on Rangers when they signed Paul Hartley from Hearts for a fee in the region of £1.1 million as the westward migration along the M8 of Scotland's most coveted midfield players continued.

Having been gazumped by their great rivals 24 hours earlier when Kevin Thomson moved from Hibs to Rangers in a £2million deal, Celtic hit back to outflank the Ibrox club and secure the services of Hartley before the transfer window closed. The 30-year-old Scotland international signed a two-and-a-half-year contract at Parkhead last night with Celtic having the option of retaining him for a further year. He will be formally unveiled at a media conference today.

Hartley becomes the second member of the so-called "Riccarton Three" to move to Celtic, teaming up again with his former captain Steven Pressley at the Scottish champions as the repercussions of the "significant unrest" in the Tynecastle dressing-room he revealed last October continue to be felt by Hearts.

The loss of Hartley will be considered another setback by the majority of Hearts supporters. After moving to the club on a Bosman free transfer from St Johnstone in the summer of 2003, Hartley established himself as one of Hearts' most effective and popular players, scoring 38 goals in 149 appearances, and was instrumental in last season's successful campaign. Gordon Strachan, the Celtic manager, has been a firm admirer of Hartley for some time and will be thrilled to have beaten his Rangers counterpart Walter Smith to the player's signature.

Smith introduced Hartley to the full international squad for his first game in charge of Scotland against Italy two years ago and was keen to work with him again at Rangers.

The Ibrox club were initially either unwilling or unable to meet Hearts owner Vladimir Romanov's valuation of the player, having a final bid of £800,000 rejected on Tuesday night. With Thomas Buffel's proposed £1 million move to Hannover 96 collapsing when the Belgian international failed to agree personal terms with the German club, Rangers had less room for financial manoeuvre, although some Ibrox sources claimed last night that they did eventually match Celtic's offer for Hartley.

Celtic had lost out in their attempt to sign Thomson from Hibs, having seen a joint bid of £4.25 million for him and fellow midfielder Scott Brown rejected by the Easter Road club last week. They moved quickly to join the race for Hartley yesterday and by teatime he had arrived in the east end of Glasgow to agree personal terms and undergo his medical.

A boyhood Celtic supporter, Hartley was previously the subject of a £300,000 transfer bid from the club in January 2005 which was rejected out of hand by Hearts. Hartley will be eligible to make his debut for Celtic in their Scottish Cup fourth-round tie against Livingston at Almondvale on Sunday. He is not cup-tied as he missed Hearts' third-round tie at Stranraer last month because he was serving a suspension he incurred with his dismissal in last season's final against Gretna.

He will not be able to play for Celtic in their Champions League last-16 tie against AC Milan this month, however, as he played for Hearts in the qualifying rounds of the tournament this season.

His arrival at Celtic is sure to be welcomed by the club's supporters and is consolation for the anticipated loss of Shaun Maloney, who was in talks with Aston Villa last night and appeared to be on the verge of rejoining Martin O'Neill in the English Premiership.

Celtic concluded another piece of business last night when Scotland Under-21 international midfielder Paul Lawson moved to St Mirren on loan for the rest of the season.

Taken from the Scotsman