Celtic signs Chinese defender Du

Scottish football giants Celtic have signed Chinese centre back Du Wei, seen here in March 2005, in a transfer deal potentially worth 1.3 million dollars, club officials said.

Scottish football giants Celtic have signed Chinese centre back Du Wei in a transfer deal potentially worth 1.3 million dollars, club officials said.

"We made a big compromise on price just to better support Du Wei and let him have a better chance," Dai Chunhua, deputy manager of Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua, told AFP on Wednesday.

"The contract was signed and Du Wei already left China today," Dai said.

According to the terms of the agreement, Celtic will pay the Chinese club 200,000 dollars as a four-month trial fee for the 24-year-old Shenhua skipper.

The Glasgow side would however not be obligated to pay the remaining 1.1 million dollars if Celtic felt dissatisfied. If that was the case Du, who hails from China's central Henan province, would return to Shenhua.

If the trial were to go well Du would be free from any further obligations to the Shanghai team.

"The two-step contract helped Celtic reduce risks, because they don't have a lot of knowledge about Chinese players," said Dai, adding that Shenhua had initially demanded one million pounds (1.79 million dollars).

"Actually, we need Du Wei quite badly, but we sacrificed our temporary interests for the sake of the long-term development of Chinese football."

Last week Shenhua turned down a proposal that would have seen Celtic initially loan the player for six months, reports said.

Negotiations were also reportedly held up by Celtic's insistence that it pay for Du one game at a time. It conceded on that point at the 11th hour before the transfer window closed.