AN apprentice plumber from Inverkeithing is set to seal a "dream" move to Celtic today (Thursday) in a £100,000 transfer.

Hoops manager Tony Mowbray has stolen a march on Premiership giants in England to snap up highly-rated teenage hitman Greig Spence from Alloa Athletic. The 17-year-old should put pen to paper today after undergoing a medical and will hope to break into a team littered with internationals such as fellow Fifer Scott Brown and striker Scott McDonald.

Spence initially came to the notice of a number of clubs after banging in the goals for the team his dad founded in 1996, Inverkeithing-based Hillfield Swifts.

Delighted dad Eddie, of Hillfield Road, said, "He only found out about this last week but he's absolutely delighted.

"It's a big move going to Celtic from the Second Division but it's always been his dream to play football full time for a huge club like them.

"He's a goalscorer. That's what he does and he's scored goals wherever he's been.

"His mum, Audrey, is so happy he's got this opportunity but he'll have to leave his work - he's an apprentice plumber with me!" An English Premiership club - believed to be Burnley - is one of a number said to have expressed an interest in the player who scored on his top team debut for Alloa in February.

Since making the breakthrough last term he has netted five times in eight starts and 14 substitute appearances.

He's currently under contract with the Wasps until 2011 after joining them in June 2007 at the age of 14 from Falkirk youths.

Spence also had spells with Hibs and, whisper it, Rangers youth teams when he left the Swifts, His dad said, "It's superb for our club and what people maybe don't know is that in the last two years we've had something like 25 boys go on to senior clubs.

"It's a big set-up now but there's a lot of time and effort goes into it." Last week Celtic signed three teenagers from Stockport County and Eddie had no fears about his son getting a chance with the Glasgow club.

"It's easy for people to say 'Don't go there as you'll never play' but if they're good enough, they'll come through and if they're not, they won't," he said. "The one thing I know he'd want me to say is he obviously enjoyed his time with the Swifts - he was almost there 10 years - but also at Alloa as he felt their youth set-up was second to none.

"They were brilliant with him and the coaching is excellent." Alloa's vice chairman, Mike Mulraney, said, "We don't want to lose Greig, we want to hang on to the players we feel will take us into the first division but, at the same time, we don't want to stand in the way of a young player if he is offered the opportunity of full time football."