Strachan makes third summer signing
Celtic have signed Derek Riordan from Hibernian on a pre-contract agreement.
The Scotland international has scored 20 times for the Easter Road club this season but will not join the Hoops until January.
The 23-year-old’s contract with the Edinburgh club does not end until October but, with the transfer window still closed then, he will be ineligible to play for Celtic until January 1, 2007.
Riordan becomes Parkhead manager Gordon Strachan’s third signing this summer with Scotland internationals Gary Caldwell and Kenny Miller joining from Hibs and Wolves respectively after the summer.
Riordan made his Hibernian debut in the Bank of Scotland Premier League game at Hearts in December 2001.
After a brief loan spell with Cowdenbeath in 2003, where he scored a hat-trick in a 7-5 win over Brechin, the forward became more prominent in the Easter Road first team.
He scored a double in a 3-1 win over Aberdeen in May 2003 to make an initial mark with the supporters and then boss Bobby Williamson.
Riordan went on to score 18 goals in the following season before further flourishing under new Hibs boss Tony Mowbray, who replaced Plymouth-bound Williamson in 2004.
The Edinburgh-born forward became a first-team regular alongside Garry O’Connor, scoring 23 times in Mowbray’s first season.
The youngster made his first Scotland appearance in August 2005 when he replaced new Celtic team-mate Miller in the 2-2 friendly draw in Austria.
But, after rejecting a move to Cardiff later in the month, Riordan was sidelined by Mowbray to allow the player to ‘clear his head’.
However, Riordan bounced back to help Hibs clinch a top-six place in the Bank of Scotland Premier League and a second successive Tennent’s Scottish Cup semi-final berth, although he was suspended for the defeat by Hearts at Hampden Park last month.
