Celtic set to beat Rangers to US starlet Andrew Gutman

Celtic are set to sign US starlet Andrew Gutman less than a month after he was offered a contract by league rivals Rangers.

Gutman had spent time on trial with Steven Gerrard’s Rangers side in December at the same time as Matt Polster – with both being offered a deal by the Ibrox side.

But despite a deal being on the table, it looks like Celtic have usurped Rangers to Gutman’s signing after manager Brendan Rodgers confirmed that he was interested in signing the 22-year-old.

Gutman, at the time of his Rangers trial, was being lauded as ‘the best player in college soccer’.

While Rangers manager Steven Gerrard, speaking about Gutman and Polster, said:

"“We have a couple of trialists from the US who are looking for the next challenge in their career, so we were asked if we want to have a look at them, so it made sense.“I know one of them and played against him in the MLS – Matt Polster, who played for Chicago Fire and who I know is a good player and Andrew Gutman, who’s one from the college system and is very highly thought of.“So we’re going to have a look at the two of them for seven or eight days. We’ll see how they do. If we like them, we’ll try and do it as soon as possible.”"

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Gutman, who plays left-back, has been playing for Indiana University’s Hoosiers side since 2015 and was named in the best XI players in college soccer this year by rival coaches. In the 23 matches he played for Indiana this season, Gutman scored 11 goals and had nine assists.

He also won the 2018 Hermann Trophy, TDS National Player of the Year, he also helped Indiana to the Big Ten conference championship and a place in the NCAA College Cup semi-finals.

According to SBISoccer editor Ives Galarcep, Gutman’s decision to join Celtic is a ‘big blow for the Chicago Fire, which had offered the left back a sizable homegrown player contract’.

The news of Gutman’s impending transfer to Celtic hasn’t gone down too well with Rangers fans, who had been praising the talented youngster after talking to Stateside fans during his time on trial with the club.

However, Gutman will have a fight on his hands if he is to even break into the Celtic first team as left-back with cult hero and fan favourite Kieran Tierney all but sewn up the position as his – although the Scotland international is out with a hip injury at the minute – with neither Emilio Izaguirre or Jonny Hayes producing the goods in his absence – Gutman’s deal could also call time on Izaguirre’s second stint at the club after returning in the summer.

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Gutman will become the third American player to sign for Celtic, following PSG starlet Timothy Weah signing on loan until the end of the season and Manny Perez signing for the Scottish champions – with the latter awaiting his deal being finalised.