STEVEN MOUYOKOLO will be handed the chance to seal a contract with Celtic after booking his place on this evening's flight to their training camp in Germany.

The French central defender played part of Saturday's closed-doors bounce game against Crewe at Lennoxtown.

The run-out was staged over three half-hour periods, and the Hoops lost 3-2, with both their goals coming from Kris Commons.

The attacking midfielder looked particularly fit and sharp, while Mouyokolo – who has not played since being released by Wolves in January after struggling to regain a place following a serious knee injury – did not.

However, manager Neil Lennon has seen enough improvement during the 26-year-old's two training spells at the club – he first came north at the end of last season – to consider it worthwhile taking him to Germany.

There, the SPL champions will play four games over 10 days, starting on Wednesday against Ukraine club, Sevastopol.

Lennon believes this will give him a much better opportunity to assess Mouyokolo's condition and evaluate if he is worth a short-term contract.

The Hoops boss has already secured centre-back Virgil van Dijk from Groningen, and the Dutchman appeared right at home in the side against Crewe.

But with Efe Ambrose not due to report back to training for another fortnight after playing in the Confederations Cup for Nigeria, Victor Wanyama also given extended leave after playing for Kenya deep into June, and Thomas Rogne now having left the club, there is a shortage of central defensive options available to Lennon for these warm- up games in Germany.

The signing deadline for the Champions League second qualifying round is 10 days from now, though one more player can be added up to 24 hours before the first leg of the tie against Clifonville on July 17.

And Lennon has indicated the Hoops could be close to finalising at least one more deal quite soon.

He said: "We're making inroads, and, hopefully, if we can get another one in, we can bring him over to Germany."

If Wanyama's move to the English top flight – Southampton's £12million bid is still on the table, and Cardiff are reported to be ready to increase their £10m offer – can be concluded soon, Lennon hopes to quickly turn around some of that cash.

However, as reported in Friday's SportTimes, Celtic are in danger of losing out on a six-figure compensation fee for Rogne, who signed for Wigan today.

The Norwegian celebrated his 23rd birthday on Saturday, and came to the end of his contract with the Hoops yesterday.

Under Fifa's rules, the cut-off point for qualifying for compensation for developing Rogne over the past three-and-a-half years is at the end of the season in which he turned 23.

If Celtic decide to pursue a claim against any club which signs Rogne, it will be based on the fact the player was still under 23 when the SPL season officially ended.

Rogne said: “It’s feels great to have joined the club, the process was quite short which was good and I’m looking forward to getting started now.

“It’s an exciting chapter for me; English football is something special and being Norwegian we follow the game over here very closely, so to be a part of it makes me very happy.

“I’ve seen Wigan Athletic play quite a lot when the club was in the Premier League, and obviously the whole of Europe has been speaking about the club after the FA Cup win in May.

“I think many people have been charmed by the way the club is run and how the team plays, so it’s great to be here.”