Celtic have announced the loan signing of Paula Partido from Real Madrid.
The Spanish teenager joins up with Fran Alonso’s side for the duration of the 2023/24 season, with plenty up for grabs.
Celtic were denied glory in agonising fashion on the final day of the 2022/23 SWPL campaign. A Scottish Cup triumph a week later soothed the pain a little, but this coming season is all about league glory.
Partido is likely to help with that and comes with good pedigree having played and scored for Real Madrid Femenino.
The Madrid outfit’s women’s side are one of the newer ones having only formed in 2020 (Olympics). But they’ve risen quickly over the past two seasons in Europe to their current position of 12th in UEFA’s coefficient rankings.
As Celtic say in their announcement statement, Partido has already played in the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage, where she happened to net her first ever senior goal.
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She also helped the Spain under-17s to World Cup glory in India last year, playing throughout the tournament and in the final.
Her signing is likely to be viewed as a pretty big statement in SWPL terms. Partido may only be 18 but she is clearly a player who should excel at domestic level.
It is not totally clear what position she will play but some of her online clips show her cutting in from the right-wing.
It will be interesting to see how she gets on this season, both at home and in Europe.
In other news, Celtic’s pot three chances and who you should be supporting in Champions League qualifying