Tony Mowbray Has Insisted the Chinese International Zheng Zhi Has Arrived at Celtic Because of His Football Ability

Tony Mowbray has insisted the Chinese international Zheng Zhi has arrived at Celtic because of his football ability and not for any potential commercial spin-offs. Celtic sought to increase their exposure in Asian markets during the Japanese midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura's four years in Glasgow and his countryman, Koki Mizuno, is still at Parkhead.

Zheng was paraded today having signed for Celtic as a free agent. Mowbray said he had tried to sign the former Charlton Athletic midfielder for £2m when he was in charge of West Bromwich Albion.

"It doesn't upset me that people say he is only here to sell shirts, because I made the decision to bring him here," Mowbray said. "With due respect to some of the commercial people at our club, I don't think they'd ever heard of him. He is here because he's a good football player.

"If there is a commercial side then good, but I'm not sure how much of a commercial side there is to it. I don't think we will be selling a billion Celtic shirts in China. I might be proven wrong and let's hope it does bring revenue in for our football club. But I don't think many of us are sitting here thinking 'Wow, we've landed on a pot of gold here'."

Zheng remains short of match fitness and will almost certainly not feature in next weekend's Old Firm derby. The chances of Aiden McGeady playing at Ibrox are more realistic; Celtic's winger will miss tomorrow's game at St Mirren because of an ankle injury but is expected to recover in the next eight days.

"I'm relieved because Aiden is a big player for us, not a player we would want to lose for any length of time," said Mowbray, who watched McGeady limp off during the midweek victory over Falkirk.

The Rangers striker Kenny Miller has called on his team-mates to raise their game during a crucial eight-day spell. Aberdeen and Sevilla visit Ibrox before Celtic but Rangers have made a stuttering start to the league season. "Hopefully something will kick-start us because we have got to pick up our performances," Miller said.