Gineitis plays in Torino defeat as rumours of a Celtic deal intensify

The Lithuanian International who the Serie A side rate in the £9 million bracket has been tracked by Celtic for most of the summer, and yesterday it was reported that the Scottish champions had opened discussions with their Torino counterparts in a bid to bring the player to Glasgow before the Scottish transfer window to sign player to play in the Europa League closes this evening.

Despite rumours of a deal being close to completion after productive discussions between both parties, the Italian side included the 6ft 3in midfielder in their starting line up for the Coppa Italia clash with AC Monza at the Olympic Grande Torino stadium in the last 32 of the national cup.

Torino made five substitutions in the defeat that seen them crash out the cup, but Gineitis remained on the field, which isn’t that surprising as he’s seen as a key player in side, and more importantly he came through the contest unscathed.

Celtic supporters will have took a keen interest in the Coppa Italia clash between the two Serie A rivals, just to see how the Lithuania equipped himself, and in all truthfulness he was pretty average as his overall rating of 5.0 would suggest.

Many will reckon that after being included in Torino’s starting line up, a celtic move for Gineitis now seems unlikely, but we shouldn’t read too much into it, as you have to remember that Arne Engels was included in the Celtic XI against Kilmarnock last month, just days before his £25 million move to West Ham United.

Could this be Genitis’ last game for the Italian side?

I guess we will find out in the next 24 hours but Stephen McGowan at The Herald has reported that he understands that the deal will done and that Gvidas Gineitis will most likely be a Celtic player before the day is out.