Hoops ace Loovens on Flood watch

The pair are set to be reunited after Flood was given permission by Cardiff to speak to Celtic.Flood was at Celtic Park on Thursday less than 24 hours after his missed penalty helped send the Hoops into the Co-operative Insurance Cup final with an 11-10 sudden-death shootout triumph over Dundee United.The 23-year-old later revealed his frustration at the "stupid" transfer speculation and accused Celtic of being "disrespectful" to Dundee United and keeping him in the dark.That outburst has not hindered his move but was indicative of his determined approach to his career.The Dubliner found a place in the starting line-up hard to come by at Cardiff despite having made 18 first-team appearances for Manchester City.He sought to further his career at Tannadice and Loovens has noticed an improvement following an 18-month loan spell on Tayside."If you play a lot, which he has done recently, you always get better," Loovens said."I have seen him a few times now - he is a good player."We had a good team at Cardiff. He was a good player back then and he didn't have to leave."But he wanted to play so that's why he made the choice, and I think it was the right choice for him."Strachan confirmed his search for reinforcements was ongoing ahead of Monday's transfer deadline.Spartak Moscow and Czech Republic midfielder Radoslav Kovac today claimed he had snubbed Celtic in favour of a proposed move to West Ham."The final decision was to choose West Ham over Celtic," the 29-year-old said. "The prestige of the Premier League tipped the balance."Celtic have also been linked with West Brom left-back Marek Cech and Manchester City midfielder Gelson Fernandes, while Eastlands striker Ched Evans is a confirmed target.But Strachan admits it is "nearly impossible" to compete with English clubs or penetrate the Barclays Premier League transfer market."It's very hard sometimes," Strachan said. "I would rather not just grab anyone to try and appease people."If they come along, they have to be of value to us."We are trying to do that at the moment but it's not an easy market out there."We cannot deal in England and everybody wants to get to England, so we've got a problem."Strachan added: "I'm trying to get business done and I think that would be good because I think our signings in the January window have been important to us in the last few years."Roy Keane was a great signing, a great presence to have about the place."Paul Hartley came in and did a smashing job. Then Robbo (Barry Robson) last year with Andy Hinkel - Robbo was terrific last year."So we're hopping if we do sign people, they will be important for us."Celtic have had one approach from England about a loan deal - reported to involve Newcastle and Stephen McManus - but Strachan has otherwise survived January with his squad intact."We've not had any bids for anyone, which is good," Strachan said."But there are usually things happen in the last couple of days."If nothing else happens before Monday evening, Strachan is satisfied the impending return from injury of Shaun Maloney, Massimo Donati and Mark Wilson will give the squad a boost.He said: "If Maloney was out on the market and we brought him in, we would be pleased, and if Donati was there, we would be pleased."Willo will be back soon as well so there are three players who will be like new signings when we get them back."Meanwhile, Strachan is hopeful skipper McManus will return from a knee injury for Sunday's SPL clash at Inverness."Stephen will hopefully be training in the next couple of days and we will see how it goes from there," theHoops boss said."But we're fortunate enough to have good centre-halves so we don't have to force Mick back."

Source: Team_Talk