Celtic sign young Hibs defender after 'rolling out red carpet'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Schoolboy Conlan Smith is celebrating after signing a pro youth contract with Celtic.The youngster, who turns 11 on Saturday, has been snapped up by the Hoops after being wooed by the Parkhead club and turning down the chance to stay at Scottish Premiership rivals Hibernian, where he has spent the past year following his move from local club Gartcairn.The Hoops "rolled out the red carpet" for the talented left-sided defender, who can play at centre-half or wing back, and he will begin training with the Scottish champions' youth setup from next week.

Proud dad John has told Lanarkshire Live Sport how Celtic gave his son the VIP treatment before he put pen to paper on an initial two-year deal.

Following the signing - where he was joined by John, mum Kirsty and sister Ebony - Salsburgh native Conlan also experienced a goosebumps moment as he walked out to the hallowed turf and saw his name on the big screen, welcoming him to the club.John explained: "In mid-December I got a phone call from Hibs saying Celtic were interested in Conlan.

That blew us away, we were a bit taken aback by it."A couple of weeks later we spoke to Hibs and they were desperate to keep Conlan but they also gave us permission to speak to Celtic."Celtic acted very quickly and we were invited into Celtic Park on December 21."We were greeted at reception and from thereon he got treated like a first team player."It was so surreal for all of us.