Aston Villa winger joins Celtic

Aleksandar-Tonev

 

Bulgarian attacking winger Aleksandar Tonev has joined Celtic on a season-long loan from Aston Villa.

The Hoops announced the deal yesterday and Tonev has expressed his delight in joining the Scottish League champions.

“Joining Celtic is unbelievable, and I feel really good about it,” the 24-year-old told the club’s official website.

“I’m delighted to have joined the club and I can’t wait to meet up with my new team-mates and start playing for Celtic.”

Tonev signed for Aston Villa in 2013 from Polish side Lech Poznan after being recommended to them by fellow Bulgarian Stylian Petrov, who has also played for both Celtic and Villa.

“I already knew all about Celtic. Everybody in Bulgaria knows Celtic,” he said.

“I spoke to Stiliyan Petrov yesterday and he was very happy for me. He wished me good luck and I hope I can do as well for Celtic as Stiliyan did.”

With high expectations upon him, Tonev failed to make the impact anticipated and in 20 Premier League appearances for Villa last season he failed to score a single goal.

Celtic manager Ronny Deila has high hopes for his new Bulgarian signing and believes the Celtic coaching staff can improve him. He believes with a little help, he will make more of an impact in the Scottish league over the upcoming season.

Deila said: “Aleksandar’s a very quick player and he has two good feet which he can shoot with.

“He has scored a lot of goals during his time at Lech Poznan and I think he can help bring the club forward with his qualities. We can also make him better.”

The Bulgaria international has gained 15 caps for his national team and the highlight of his international career was netting a hat-trick in a 6-0 World-Cup qualifier win against Malta last year.