FC COPENHAGEN have agreed to sell top scorer Pieros Sotiriou - 48 hours before facing Celtic.

The Cypriot striker flew to Kazakhstan today to seal a shock £4million switch to champions Astana.

Sotiriou is the fourth-top scorer in the Danish Superliga this season with nine goals in 18 appearances for Stale Solbakken's side, who are currently second in the top flight.

The 27-year-old moved to Denmark's capital from Cypriot side APOEL in 2017 for a reported fee of 2.5m euros, scoring a total of 25 goals in 70 appearances for Copenhagen.

Solbakken admitted that the move represented a blow to his side's European ambitions.

"The timing could be better. I acknowledge that," he said. "Our wish was that the transfer would happen in a few weeks’ time but we got a good offer.

"It is not a super offer, but I would refer to it as an acceptable offer and that’s why we sell him now. Of course, it’s a pity that it happens before our matches against Celtic.

"But I am convinced that with Dame N’Doye, Michael Santos and Mikkel Kaufmann we will probably be okay."

Sotiriou made 11 appearances for Copenhagen in Europe - and played every minute of the club's Europa League group stage fixtures - this season, scoring three goals. One arrived against Welsh side TNS in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and the other two came against Latvia's Riga in the play-off round of the Europa League.