Celtic Snap Up Samaras and Mizuno

Georgios Samaras has set his sights on a starring role at Euro 2008 after completing a loan move to Celtic from Manchester City.

The 22-year-old has joined the Hoops for the remainder of the season and is desperate to win a place in the Greece squad for the summer tournament in Austria and Switzerland. His chances appeared to be on the slide after struggling to hold down a regular place in the Manchester City team - he has made only two league starts for Sven-Goran Eriksson's side this season - but he hopes his move to Scotland will provide the opportunity to impress the Greece coach Otto Rehhagel.

"One of the reasons I signed here is because I will use the games to help Celtic, and, of course, for the chance to be in the Greece squad for the summer," said Samaras. "I'm here to help Celtic and for Celtic to help me."

Samaras will be eligible for the Champions League when the competition begins again next month and the striker, who joined City for £6m from Heerenveen two years ago, is likely to make his European debut against Barcelona next month. "It will be very difficult against Barcelona but in football you never know. I try to give 100% in each game and, of course, to have the mentality to win every game," he said. "A big team like Celtic wants to win everything and I'm here to do that - to win everything."

Samaras has been joined at Celtic by the Japan midfielder Koki Mizuno, also 22, who has agreed a 3½-year contract at Parkhead. Celtic secured a work permit for Mizuno after convincing an appeals panel he was an exceptional case, despite winning just three caps for Japan so far.

Meanwhile, Birmingham City are set to open talks with the Aston Villa's Gary Cahill over a possible £5m move to St Andrew's. The signing of a central defender has been one of the Birmingham manager Alex McLeish's priorities in the transfer window.