LUIS PALMA has sealed a permanent love to Lech Poznan following a season-long loan at the club.
The Honduran international winger’s final appearance for the champions came in January last year before being shipped out to Olympiakos.
Palma, who cost £3.5million when he arrived from Aris Thessaloniki in August 2023, has now rubberstamped a three-year deal at the Polish title winners at an unconfirmed fee although his new club claim it is a record for them.
The flamboyant flanker scored 10 goals in 36 games across all competitions in his debut campaign at Parkhead, winning a league and Cup double.
Brendan Rodgers, though, remained unimpressed and sanctioned the player’s two loan moves.
POSTER BOY…Lech Poznan welcome new signing Luis Palma.
The 26-year old forward impressed at Lech, scoring 10 goals in 31 league appearances as the team raced to the league title.
With Spanish side Sevilla weighing up a swoop, the Poles moved fast to trigger the option in Palma’s contract.
Sporting director Tomasz Rzasa, in a report in the Scottish Sun, said in a statement: “We had a buy-out clause in our loan agreement with Scottish side Celtic FC.
“Therefore, the decision was ours from the start. We are pleased to announce that on Wednesday, June 3rd, we activated this clause, and Luis Palma officially became our player until June 30th, 2029.
“Understandably, we cannot disclose the exact fees, as they are confidential, but I can confirm that this is our record transfer to the club.
UP, UP AND AWAY…Luis Palma skips past a challenge from Ryan Astley in the 3-3 draw at Dens Park on January 14 2025 – one of the Honduran’s last appearances for Celtic.
“Luis’ achievements were impossible to ignore; he quickly integrated into the team and delivered exceptional quality on the pitch.”
The club supremo added: “The statistics confirm this. However, we were calm about all the speculation surrounding our player, knowing we held all the cards.
“That’s why we waited until the end of the season and, after careful analysis, decided to acquire the winger from Celtic.”
Palma becomes the second Celt to leave the club within 48 hours after central defender Stephen Welsh, who spent two loan spells at Motherwell during the season, had his contract terminated with 12 months still to run.
Others will follow.
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