Celtic are desperate to sign a central defender before Friday’s deadline, but the Bhoys are all set to miss out on one of their main summer targets – Harold Moukoudi.

According to Sky Sports’ live blog [August 30th, 10:40], Championship outfit Aston Villa have stolen a march on the defender. The Villans are all set to beat Celtic and Middlesbrough to the signature of Moukoudi.

Earlier in the summer, the young defender garnered interest from Premier League club West Ham United, but the deal didn’t materialise.

The report claims that the Le Havre centre-back arrived at Aston Villa’s training ground on Thursday morning.

Expecting a busy few days at #avfc Harold Moukoudi is in the UK and expected at Bodymoor Heath today as Villa look to wrap up a season-long loan deal. Will add cover at centre-back if it gets done.

— Gregg Evans (@greggevans40) August 30, 2018

Clubs in the EFL can only sign players on loan until August 31st. According to reports the Sun, Villa will sign him on loan and will later agree to a permanent transfer for Moukoudi, for a reported fee in the region of £10 million.

The Frenchman has represented the Under-18 and Under-20 divisions, and proved to be an able and consistent defender.

He has a dominant presence at the backline and rarely makes a mistake. His concentration is superb and is very strong in the air. Most importantly he is tactically very smart, and in theory should do well under Rodgers.