‘JUST FAN-TASTIC,’ NEW BHOY FILIP

NEW Bhoy Filip Benkovic has already been blown away by the Celtic support – and he hasn’t kicked a ball at Parkhead yet!

The Leicester City central defender, who agreed a season-long loan deal with the champions yesterday, witnessed the Hoops’ 3-0 destruction of Lithuania’s FK Suduva to win a place in the Europa League group stages where they have been drawn to face RB Leipzig, Salzburg and Rosenborg.

Croatian Under-21 international Benkovic said: “I can only say the crowd were unbelievable. The fans were amazing and so passionate and they lived with the players for the whole game. I really liked what I saw and I can’t wait to play in front of them.

“I will promise that I will do my best in every game and every training session. I know I can improve in my game as I want to reach as highest level as possible.

“I will give all my blood to this club. This is all can promise.

“I’m very happy to be here. This has happened so fast, but I’m delighted that it finished here as this is a very big club with a big history.

”Celtic are only interested in winning and collecting trophies. I am a person and player who only wants to win and improve every day. Our goal this season is to win every trophy and do well in Europe which I think we can do.

“I believe the team share these ambitions and, with this crowd and this passion, I believe we can do big things.”

Benkovic is looking forward to teaming up with fellow-countryman Jozo Simunovic, who joined the Hoops from Dinamo Zagreb three years ago.

He said: “I know Jozo who is a very good guy and a good player. I’m good friends with him. We haven’t spoken yet as this happened so quickly in one day, but we’ll have time at training to speak and he’ll tell more about the situation here. I can’t wait.”

* Benkovic was speaking to the official Celtic website.