Boss Roy Keane made his second trip to Scotland in a week on Saturday afternoon to watch Hamilton Academical lose 3-0 at home to Motherwell. Hamilton's young midfielder James McCarthy is likely to have been the reason for his visit to New Douglas Park.

McCarthy, linked with the Blues earlier in the week, also attracted the attention of several Premier League scouts this afternoon, while his current club and Celtic were in discussions regarding a move to Parkhead earlier this week.

The 18-year-old is rated as one of the most promising players in Europe, which has led to links with Everton, Newcastle, Tottenham, Middlesbrough, Wigan, Blackburn, Sunderland and Wolves in recent months, while Portsmouth made a bid in May, which was turned down by the SPL club. Spanish sides Barcelona and Deportivo La Coruña and Italian club Palermo are also said to have been monitoring the Glasgow-born midfielder.

Despite being born in Scotland, McCarthy, who broke into the Hamilton first team at 16, committed to playing for the Republic of Ireland, the country of his grandfather's birth, from an early age, winning caps at U17, U18, U19 and U21 levels.

This season McCarthy, who has already made 86 starts and 22 sub appearances for the Accies, scoring 15 goals, won the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award.

Earlier this week, Keane watched his former club Celtic beat Dundee United 3-0 with his targets believed to have been midfielders Paul Hartley and Morgaro Gomis.

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