CELTIC boss Ronny Deila has already started his rebuilding plans for next season.
The Norwegian has been monitoring young talent at home and abroad as he prepares to strengthen his squad.
Everton’s England Under-21 defender Luke Garbutt and 23-year-old Libyan international midfielder Ahmad Benati are both on the Hoops gaffer’s radar.
Garbutt is poised to quit the Goodison outfit at the end of his contract in the summer in his search for regular first team football.
The left-back joined the Merseyside team from Leeds United’s Academy in 2009 for an initial fee of £600,000 which was set by a transfer tribunal. However, he has made only four first team appearances due to the consistency of Leighton Baines.
Deila is desperate for cover for Emilio Izaguirre and has been forced to play right-sided Efe Ambrose in an unfamiliar position in the absence of the Honduran this season.
Roberto Martinez is keen to offer Garbutt an extension, but the player wants to consider his options and wouldn’t rule out a move to Scotland.
And the SPFL champions are pushing ahead with their interest in Benali, who plays for Italian Serie B side Brescia.
The defensive midfield man is a former youth star at Manchester City and has played in Italy for the past three years.
Manchester-born Benali, who made five appearances for the England Under-17s before switching his allegiance to Libya, still has 15 months to run at Brescia, but the club will sell their hottest property after hitting financial problems this season.
A fee of around £750,000 would persuade the club to offload Benali, who was picked up on a free transfer when he left the Etihad.
Celtic have been tracking the player since the start of the campaign and hoped to do business during the January transfer window. Nothing materialised, though, with Deila opting for Dundee United double-act Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong.
However, he is now likely to make another move for Benali in the summer.
Celtic also have interest in adding further Scottish signings to the squad after the success of Mackay-Steven and Armstrong with a young striker in the Aberdeen development squad and the Hearts skipper very much on the radar.
