Another day, another signing at Celtic Park, and once again a player the former manager, Tommy Burns, wanted to sign.

Celtic yesterday spent an estimated #500,000 to secure the services of defender Stephane Mahe from Rennes. The 28-year-old is the fourth signing since Burns was replaced by the duo of Jock Brown and Wim Jansen, and will be eligible to play for Celtic in the next round of the UEFA Cup.

''Stephane is a player we have been interested in for some time,'' general manager Brown said when intro- ducing Mahe. ''After appraising the staff here, Wim Jansen gave the go-ahead to sign him.''

Mahe is a defender who prefers to play as either an orthodox left back, or wing-back, although he can also play in central defence. It is the fact that Celtic will let him exercise his preferences which attracted him to the club, although they have Tosh McKinlay playing in that position.

''This means we have two international left backs in the squad, but I can say that Wim Jansen has many tac- tical formations in mind,'' said Brown.

Mahe has one full cap for France and five at B international level. He started his career at Auxerre, spending 11 years at the club which is known as France's football academy.

He then moved to Paris St Germain - for whom he played against Celtic in the European Cup-winners' Cup two years ago - where his career slumped. He signed for Rennes last season.

The player puts down his loss of form to ''personal problems,'' which appear to have surrounded his divorce from his first wife. Those difficulties seem to be in the past and he is relishing the chance for a fresh start with a new club. ''My time in Paris held back my development. For personal reasons I felt I could not play my best,'' Mahe said, through his interpreter, none other than the Celtic chief executive, Fergus McCann. ''Rennes wanted me to stay, but I wanted to play at a higher level and to experience European football again.''

Last season, Mahe played with Aberdeen's Gary Smith and the former Hearts player Alan Johnston, although it seems they were unable to tell him much about Scottish football. They have no French, he has no English.

''Celtic are a very big club,'' Fergus told us Stephane said. ''I am confident I can do well here. I hope I will stay longer than the three years of my contract.''

A continental player at Parkhead hoping to do more than just honour his contract may be regarded as a novelty at Celtic Park. However, McCann is confident he now has a system which will end disputes with European employees, even though when asked which Celtic players he had heard of, Mahe named only Paolo Di Canio.

''It is not a question of nationality, it is a question of individuals. We have checked Stephane's background and he has an excellent reputation in France,'' the chief executive assured.

''We do background reference checks on everyone,'' Brown echoed.

Mahe was not the only French defender to be paraded by a Scottish club yesterday. Hibernian showed off their latest signing, French defender Jean-Marc Adjovi-Boco, from Lens.

It marks a further strengthening of Hibs' defence following the arrival of Icelandic keeper Olafur Gotts- kalksson. Both will go straight into the squad for Sunday's opening premier division match against Celtic at Easter Road.