Cristian Gamboa was keen to get the a deal done as soon as he heard Celtic were interested in his autograph. Gamboa completed his move from English Premier League side West Bromwich Albion, agreeing a three-year contract with the Parkhead side. He becomes manager Brendan Rodgers' fifth signing of the summer following the arrivals of Moussa Dembele, Kolo Toure, Scott Sinclair and Dorus de Vries. The full-back has picked up almost 50 caps for Costa Rica and helped them reach the quarter-finals of the 2016 World Cup in Brazil.
He said: "I have been told I am the first Costa Rican player to play here and I am really proud to be here and really proud to be playing for Celtic and to be playing in the Champions League. It’s a really exciting group but a tough one but you have to enjoy it and it will nice to be part of. In Costa Rica you hear about Celtic because this is a club that has a lot of history. I know it’s far away but people still know about Celtic and now that I am have come here, it will become even bigger and the people will start to pay more attention to the club. It’s really exciting. For me, this is a dream come true as this is a big club. When they told me that Celtic was interested in me I said to my agent to try and do this if possible as I really wanted to come here and play football and play in the Champions League for them. I like to run a lot and try to always get assists for my team-mates and try to help the team in any way I can. This is what you can expect from me, giving 100 per cent in every game. This is the type of player I am. Three days ago, Brendan called me so it was good to talk to him and he talked about the system he wanted to play and the Champions League qualification so it was a lot of stuff for me. I was excited to come here and play and I’m really looking forward to playing football for Celtic."
Before his time in England, Gamboa spent some time with Rosenborg in Norway and he also had spells at Fredrikstad and Danish outfit FC Copenhagen, having left his homeland as a youngster to fulfil his football dream. He is looking forward to breaking into the first team on his return from international duty. Gamboa said: "We are now on international duty after this and I will have a long trip but I am ready, I am fit and I have no injuries so we will see what happens. I hope for me and my family that this will be a place I can be for a while as we have really enjoyed the small time we have had here so far and hopefully this is place we can settle down and enjoy."
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