Former Hearts man agrees deal as Celtic make contract admission

The latest news in the Scottish Premiership from Hearts and Hibs’ rivals

Hearts and Hibs are both rejoicing having reached the final four of the Scottish League Cup. Hibs beat St Mirren at Easter Road 4-2 to set-up a semi-final clash with Aberdeen while the Jambos defeated Kilmarnock 2-1 at Rugby Park to establish their semi-final meet with Rangers.

The semi-finals will take place in early November and the two clubs will now return their focus to the Scottish Premiership as Hibs welcome Dundee to Leith and Hearts head up to Ross County. Ahead of a busy weekend of fixtures, here is all the latest transfer news from Hibs and Hearts’ Scottish Premiership rivals.

Ex-Celtic skipper stays clear of Parkhead return

Scott Brown won’t return to the ‘comfort blanket’ of a role at Celtic, reckons his former boss Gordon Strachan (Daily Record). Former Celtic skipper left his role as manager of Fleetwood Town earlier this month and it seemed he would soon be heading back to Parkhead to team up withBrendan Rodgers. However, Strachan - who signed Brown from Hibs in 2007 - believes the former midfielder will only go back if he can get there on merit, as a manager in his own right.

Speaking to the Daily Record, Strachan said: “Yes, I’m sure there would be a place for him at Celtic if he wanted one. But would he really want to be at a place based upon past history? Because you can sniff that. You always want to go back on merit and that’s the way he’ll be thinking. He doesn’t want to see Celtic as some sort of comfort blanket, knowing he could always go back there into some sort of role.”

Hoops boss backtracks on contract extension

Brendan Rodgers has admitted he doesn’t know how close Japanese midfielder Reo Hatate is to signing a new contract, despite previous reports suggesting it was only a matter of time (Football Scotland).

Celtic have been in talks with Hatate’s representatives for a number of weeks and it was initially presumed the midfielder would be committing to his future before the summer window closed. However, deadline day came and went and despite reports from earlier this week indicating the Japanese international was now close to putting pen to paper, it seems it will continue to be a while before negotiations are confirmed.

Speaking ahead of the Hoops trip to Motherwell this weekend, Rodgers was asked if an agreement was close to which he replied: “I’ll speak to Michael (Nicholson), but in fairness to the club, the club have been reaching out to the agent for quite some time. But where it’s at, I don’t know at this point.”

Ex-Hearts star finally signs new deal

The former Hearts midfielder Arnaud Djoum has signed a deal with Union St Gilloise ‘B’ following his summer exit from Dundee United. The 34-year-old had been a free agent since his disappointing stint in Tayside but his now to continue his career with the Belgian Division 2 ACFF side - a club in the fourth tier of their pyramid structure.

Djoum enjoyed a far more fruitful time at Tynecastle, with whom he was with from 2015-2019, than across the Forth and scored 15 times, claiming 18 assists in his 132 outings. The Cameron international has also formerly been part of Akhisar Belediyespor, Al-Read, Apollon Limassol, Brussels, and Anderlecht.