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Gary Hooper: Celtic striker signs for Norwich City

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments845

Norwich City have confirmed the signing of Celtic striker Gary Hooper for a fee thought to be around £5m.

The 25-year-old has agreed a three-year contract with the Premier League club, who have the option of keeping him for a further year.

Championship club QPR had a bid accepted for Hooper, but he has opted for the top flight with City instead.

Hooper scored 31 goals for the Scottish champions last season, having joined from Scunthorpe in 2010 for £2.4m.

He has been Celtic's leading goalscorer for the last three seasons. His final game for the club was Tuesday's 2-0 Champions League second qualifying round second leg win over Cliftonville.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon described Hooper as the club's best striker since Henrik Larsson and said his departure was a "huge loss".

Norwich manager Chris Hughton, who first tried to sign Hooper in January, has now signed seven players this summer.

"There's been a lot of speculation going back to January and I'm pleased to have finally put pen to paper and joined Norwich," Hooper told Norwich's official website.

"I knew Chris Hughton and Colin Calderwood from my youth days at Spurs, so it will be great to be back working with them.

"I have scored goals at every level I have played at and the challenge of playing in the Premier League is really exciting to me."

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845 comments

  • Comment posted by User0019213320, at 11:28 25 Jul 2013

    Harry Redknapp "We have a real good lad here who will score goals"

    Houghton "So have we"

  • Comment posted by charlessy, at 11:21 25 Jul 2013

    Norwich City are making quite a few decent signings and look to mean business which shows they are trying to push on. Its going to be an exciting season for Norwich fans

  • Comment posted by Cricket1, at 11:22 25 Jul 2013

    At last we might get see a English footballer in the Premier legue

  • Comment posted by subbuteo87, at 11:25 25 Jul 2013

    I'm a Celtic fan and I'll be gutted to see him go. I've accepted the inevitability but I'll take the news much better if he goes to Norwich. A decent PREMIER LEAGUE club with good ambition.QPR would be a step back. He's been a fantastic servant for Celtic and I wish him all the best. No Champions League will be compensated by visits to Anfield, Old Trafford etc.Norwich fans, you're in for a treat!

  • Comment posted by Lloydimus, at 11:30 25 Jul 2013

    Like I said yesterday in the QPR thread, will be gutted to see Hooper go, but we simply have to let him, glad it would be to a club like Norwich.

    Imagine Hooper and van Wolfswinkel up front, class...

  • Comment posted by User0236707065, at 14:26 26 Jul 2013

    Our local paper has reported that this deal has netted Scunthorpe £900k as part of the sell-on clause.

    I am OVER THE MOON!!!!

    That's 50% of our wagebill for this season.

  • Comment posted by Berba_Was_King, at 11:21 25 Jul 2013

    Norwich are quietly going about their business and bringing in some good signings - Redmond is a player I rate highly.

    Apparently Hooper wants to move closer back to London but Norwich are well settled in the Prem and if he has ANY hopes of getting into the England squad for the WC (should they qualify of course) then Norwich are better option than QPR.

  • Comment posted by busterhawk, at 11:30 25 Jul 2013

    hail hail!!
    hooper and wanyama were amazing for us last season,
    i dont mind our players using us as a stepping stone, the harsh reality is the SPL is poor- the lure of guarenteed champs league brings us a good quality player for a few seasons!

  • Comment posted by AaronMurphy, at 14:17 25 Jul 2013

    I've accepted he's on his way out of the door, but after the Drury testimonial last year I'm happy to see Hooper move to our English brothers. The Celtic fans were predictably brilliant and Norwich jumped right on board joining in with the songs and doing the huddle. I've been rooting for them ever since! Hail Hail Norwich!!

  • Comment posted by Patrick27, at 18:02 27 Jul 2013

    Nothing against Norwich City, well run small club playing in a big league with lots of money.
    Stick Celtic in the EPL and all the money, with the size of the club give it 5 years before a serious top 4 challenge is underway.
    Hooper couldn't really have cared which EPL club he went to, just so he could get more England international recognition which is fair enough for an English lad.
    Good luck GH

  • Comment posted by User0752879965, at 13:19 25 Jul 2013

    @145

    PvH scored 7 goals in the PL. Don't even think you're a Dandy if the truth be known ?

  • Comment posted by Slenderman, at 15:27 27 Jul 2013

    The main thing from a Celtic standpoint is that they made a profit unloading a mediocre player to a mediocre EPL side.

    If you prefer Delia Smith cheerleading you on against dross like Stoke, as oppose to 60,000 folk roaring you on against Barca - then there's something wrong with you.

  • Comment posted by User0958429512, at 15:13 27 Jul 2013

    Celtic fans love their club and think they're massive, Norwich fans adore their club and couldn't give a flying hootenanny about some other club in another league.

    We care about buying good player and Hooper is one.

  • Comment posted by User0633735562, at 12:04 25 Jul 2013

    60. JDandfries
    What a ridiculous question, how many CL goals did Suarez or Bale get last season? Therefore Hooper must be better than them.

    65. Ironnie
    So finishes of 12th then 11th not good enough for you? Don't forget we also beat both manchester clubs last season as well as Arsenal and Spurs

  • Comment posted by User0263817586, at 21:28 27 Jul 2013

    He signed because he couldn't bear to have to listen to Redknapp every day, dear god imagine going in to work to face that.

  • Comment posted by User0657460615, at 23:00 27 Jul 2013

    @832.Sad really,you compare a country of over 50 million to Scotland with 5 million.Why not compare yourselves to winning nations like germany,italy,spain or even holland.It will be the same old story IF you qualify for brazil,maybe the last 16 then the big boys take over.At least we know were not good enough for the wc,whats your excuse?

  • Comment posted by User0657460615, at 16:35 27 Jul 2013

    @806.You seem to have missed the point with these message boards,its only a bit of banterYour last sentence was very profound,have to lock myself in a dark room now and have a chat about nothing mattering with myself..

  • Comment posted by User0699998119, at 15:47 27 Jul 2013

    As a Norwich fan it is fantastic to see them making good signings.
    We are a small English club but there are unfortunately too many Man Utd, Chelski, Liverpool fans in East Anglia, If only half of these were to support their local team Norwich would be able to compete with the big guns in the PL. Hooper I imagine wants to play at the highest level, with Celtic he gets a few games in Europe but...

  • Comment posted by Zzzzzzzzzz, at 11:23 25 Jul 2013

    So expecting apologies from all the people slating him for "joining" QPR yesterday saying he was only in it for the money whereas all that actually happened is that Celtic accepted an offer for him.

  • Comment posted by User0111489079, at 11:22 25 Jul 2013

    Wouldn't be surprised if he signed for Bayern the way this has been reported in the so called meeja.

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