Celtic tipped to sign Hearts star before he's even kicked a ball as former Rangers man tells rivals what they want to hear
Andrei Kanchelskis believes Celtic are the ultimate goal for anyone coming to Scotland
Islam Chesnokov has been tipped for a future move to Celtic – before he's even kicked a ball for Hearts.
It comes from former Rangers star Andrei Kanchelskis who believes the Hoops are ahead of his old club by a 'wide margin' – which makes them the ultimate goal for anyone coming to Scotland.
Hearts have agreed a pre-contract deal with Kazakhstan international Chesnokov, but are trying to do a deal with his club FC Tobol to land him before then.
Kanchelskis, who won 59 caps for the Soviet Union, the CIS and Russia, was at Ibrox for four years from 1998 and ended up winning six major trophies with Rangers.
He's now in charge of Russian second tier outfit Dynamo Bryansk and was asked about why Chesnokov has opted to move to Hearts instead of going to Russia, where there was plenty of interest in him.
Kanchelskis explained: "The Scottish league is quite high level and there is a lot of quality there. It's a very physical league. But the problem is this is only a league with two teams - Celtic and Rangers. And Celtic are leading by a wide margin.
"Another five or six, including Hearts, are fighting for places in the European competitions. But the main advantage for Islam Chesnokov of moving to Scotland is the opportunity to be noticed by Celtic or English clubs and eventually sign for them. This is an opportunity for progress.
"Yes, the level of the Russian Premier League is clearly higher than in Scotland, but there's no Europe for him there and no one will notice him in Russia.
"So if it was me, I would have done what Islam did and moved to Scotland too."
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