Croatian Scouting Mission

Ray Clarke and his various talent-spotting assistants have been assigned by the club to cover all areas of the "second tier" of central and eastern European nations in the search for potential signing targets practically since the beginning of the season.

Having clocked air miles running into the thousands in their search for potential targets to date their most recent voyage took them to the PRVA HNL in Croatia, a nation which has risen to the forefront of the football world since their recent high-profile success against England.

Clarke has been personally present at a number of Dinamo Zagreb's domestic and European fixtures since the beginning of October, while we've had a number of other representatives eyeing players at Hadjuk Split and other HNL clubs during that time. Gordon Strachan has since been handed a dossier containing around half a dozen names who the scouting unit will continue to pursue with a view to next summer's transfer window subject to the manager's approval.

Strachan has also made it known to his players in his tireless bid to uncover talent from all over the world that they should feel "obliged" to make it known to him or another member of the coaching staff if any player impresses them while they're away on International duty with their respective countries. One such player by the name of Samvel Melkonyan has been identified by Artur Boruc when Poland travelled to play Armenia recently, the club have had the player watched a number of times and are planning to make a bid in the coming January transfer window, although i understand there is interest in the player from clubs in the Serie A and Bundesliga also.

On the subject of the January transfer window, as you'd expect by this stage, Gordon's Strachan's plans are already in place and a number of other possible signings have been identified, both first-choice and alternatives. Check back over the next few days for more information on these targets as some of them are dependant on Celtic getting the right result in Milan tomorrow, which we all hope they achieve of course.

Best wishes.