West Bromwich Albion have completed the transfer of Celtic striker John Hartson.

The Welsh international has agreed a two-year contract at The Hawthorns to conclude manager Bryan Robson's long-running pursuit of the 31-year-old.

Albion had a £500,000 bid for the former Arsenal and West Ham striker accepted by The Hoops at the end of last month, after Robson identified Hartson as the player to spearhead his side's bid to regain promotion to The Premiership.

Hartson has now put pen-to-paper with the Black Country club and is relishing the prospect of a new challenge.

"I have had five fantastic years in Scotland and been lucky enough to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world," Hartson told stellargroup's website.

"But for a variety of reasons the time is now right for me to make a change and to return to English football.

"I spoke to Bryan Robson and was impressed with his plans for next season.

"Obviously he wants Premiership football back at The Hawthorns as soon as possible and that leaves me with another big challenge on my hands.

"I feel fit and healthy and cannot wait for the new season to start now. I am looking forward to a new adventure."

Source: http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=39...eal+for+Hartson

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Wow, shock transfer. It'll be good to see him playing in the Championship next season like, and no doubt he'll be a good signing for WBA. He's a goalscorer thats for sure, and he should be quite a force in the Championship. I still cant see WBA having much of an impact next season though personally...

I really thought a Premiership club would snap him up once it was aware that he was avaliable because i think he could do a job in the Premiership but fair play to WBA they got in there and snapped him up. He'll probably score a fair few in the Championship and if WBA can keep the likes of Gera, Chaplow and Davies then i think they have a good chance of getting promoted back to the Premiership but next year there will be alot of clubs in the mix so they will have to add two or three more signings i feel.

If the ball isn't played to him, he won't go for it. It needs to be played right to his feet, and once it it, you can be sure he'll score. but still he's a lazy b*stard who hardly moves. I'm not saying this since i'm a Rangers fan, he's reknowned for it, and when i went to a Celtic (v Dundee Utd) game last season I was shocked from the little movement he actually done, but in saying that he still scored.

If he scores then thats all everyone will really care about. I remember Stavrum at Aberdeen would do nothing all game, but stand around getting caught offside all the time but then he'd pop up, right time right moment and he'd score - all his lack of effort and offsides were instantly forgotten.

I'm not suprised hes left Celtic but thought he would have ended up at Pompey.

I actually thought he may end up at Blackburn because he was certainly linked with them and i thought the Welsh link between Hartson and Hughes may be a deciding factor but for whatever reasons he chose WBA and im sure he will score a fair few goals in the Championship because of his presence in the air and the fact he can score goals for fun like hes shown in Scotland and to a lesser extent in England and for Wales.