Celtic have their first signing of the January transfer window.
In a much-needed addition to his wing-back options, Wilfried Nancy has completed the signing of the Mexican international on loan from AFC Bournemouth.
Araujo has been training with his Celtic teammates ahead of potentially making his debut in today’s Glasgow Derby against Rangers.
But in his first media conference, he stressed that he’s looking beyond just this weekend, as he hopes to seal a place in the Mexico squad for next summer’s World Cup.
After letting Araujo go to Celtic, Cherries boss Andoni Iraola has been discussing the move.
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Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola on Julian Araujo joining Celtic
Bournemouth have been working on incomings of their own, and they’ve just welcomed a familiar face to the Vitality Stadium.
Hoops hero Fraser Forster has just joined the south coast club after six months as a free agent.
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But Iraola has been discussing his decision to send Araujo to Glasgow, also mentioning the issue surrounding foreign loans that had to be cleared before the move got the green light.
He said: “I think it was the position that probably we had more specific players because we have Alex Jimenez, Adam Smith and also players like James Hill and Lewis Cook who have performed there.
“So the issue was that we didn’t have these international loans.
“So we have to recall Dom Sadi, but I think Julian, because he has been also a top, top professional without playing. So he deserves the chance to get some more minutes in these six months at Celtic.”
I think, and I value a lot what he has done in these months where he has basically just played the cup game.
“I think he’s a top professional, top professional and I think he needs probably more consistent minutes to recover the form that he has shown previously in other clubs, even with us when he started.
“And I hope he does really well and he can come back in the summer fighting for the position.”
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The career of new Celtic man Julian Araujo
Araujo is an academy graduate at LA Galaxy, where he made over 100 appearances before making a dream move to Barcelona.
There, he spent time out on loan at Las Palmas, where he played as a wing-back on both sides across 25 La Liga appearances.
This earned him a £9 million move to Bournemouth. He made 12 Premier League appearances last season.
However, as Iraola mentions, he hasn’t made a league appearance this season – despite the club being on a ten-match winless run.
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