Call me a hard hearted old cynic but was I the only one forced to stifle the onset of laughter when reading the BBC Sport website's headline `Juarez snubbed Barca for Celtic'?

I mean, really, do they think we're all so easily led?

I love Celtic as much as the next guy, but c'mon, let's be honest – if Efrain Juarez had any hope whatsoever of making the grade at Camp Nou, that's exactly where he would have headed.

Barcelona probably wouldn't have even come up at the post-signing press conference if it hadn't been for one particular hack asking a very leading question about reported interest from Barca. It was a fairly safe angle to pursue – one that was sure to produce the headline he was looking for given the potential to table the `lost in translation' card should a less than egotistical and not-all-that-fluent-with-English Juarez be emphatic in his denial of that interest.

As it happens, it was noticeable that Juarez didn't appear overly keen to play up the link – confining himself to the now stock standard "once Celtic were interested" and "big club" responses when pushed.

No, I think it is safe to say that Celtic were the only club showing any REAL interest, and the player wasn't choosing Celtic over Barca, the SPL over La Liga, and freezing cold nights at Fir Park over balmy ones at the Bernabeu ... he was choosing the words "aye son, yer in the team this week" over the words ... "usted no ha hecho el equipo esta semana" (nae chance ya big Jessie ye!).

The chance of regular football really can play awful tricks on a boy, but that's nothing compared to what he's up against when it comes to the write-my-headline-for-me Scottish press pack.

Actually, according to Wiki, Juarez has been at Barcelona before – during a very brief spell in Spain back in 2006 as a teenager, but he only made it as far as the fringes of the Barcelona `B' team before returning to the ample bosom of (his first club) UNAM Pumas in his native Mehiko where he went on to establish himself as a key player.

Like most of you, we at ETims torres de casa won't pretend to know a great deal else about the man born Efrain Juarez Valdez. He's young (22), he's extremely versatile (plays right-back or winger/midfield), and he's good enough to have played for Mexico at the recent World Cup (his main claim to fame there being noted as the first player to be booked at the tournament). That's about it. The blanks will doubtlessly be filled in as the season progresses.

Hell, we can't even be certain what fee Celtic has paid to secure his services – what is it these days with "undisclosed" fees? Is that really the sort of transparency we expect from a PLC? Why not just reveal the extent of any investment to its stakeholders? More certain is the length of the deal – with Juarez having signed a four-year contract.

Give the Bhoy his due though by using statements such as "I don't need time to adapt to a new country either. I'll get a house, bring my parents over to Scotland for a while and then get on with it." And "I always work to get into the starting XI and for the good of the team. To represent these colours, I would play in goal.”

We like the cut of his Mexican jib.

All that remains then is to wish him much success with life in Scotland and at Celtic:

Efrain, recepción al Celtic, creemos que usted hará una estrella grande para nosotros!

Or something.

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