Agent Campos thrives beyond the call of duty to give his Celta friends an Ivorian addition

Celta has completed the first great addition of the transfer window, pulling off the signing of French-Ivorian forward Jonathan Bamba, whose contract at LOSC Lille has expired. The attacker travelled this Monday afternoon to the Portuguese town of Faro to join the sky-blue camp orchestrated by new coach Rafael Benitez.

Celta have signed the 27-year-old winger to a three-year deal. It's a terrific piece of business for the Galician club, who have got a proven player without paying a transfer fee. One of the key people in securing the deal was Luis Campos, the guy who was Lille's sporting director before he switched to PSG. Campos' friendship with Celta president Carlos Mourino paid big dividends for the Galicians.

Bamba's good relationship with Campos has been key for the player to choose Celta among the many suitors. OGC Nice, Hertha Berlin and Olympique de Marseille were all in the race for the 2021 Ligue 1 winner. Still, the possibility of playing in La Liga under the orders of Benítez has been another decisive factor.

Almost entire Bamba's career, with a brief loan to Belgian Sint-Truiden, has been spent in France, first at Saint Ettiene, then at Angers and finally at Lille, where he has exploited his full potential. His numbers in Ligue 1 speak for themselves: 38 goals and 39 assists in 225 games. Bamba has experience in the Champions League (3 assists in 12 games) and the Europa League (1 goal in 10 games).

The new sky-blue signing was a regular in the youth ranks of the French team before joining the Ivory Coast senior team, with whom he made his debut last June against Zambia.