Wilfried Nancy’s move from Columbus Crew to Celtic hit the news cycle hard Stateside.
It’s not very often a coach from the MLS lands one of the biggest jobs in European football so when Celtic appointed Nancy, it made a lot of people in the US sit up and take notice.
However, the Frenchman didn’t get off to the best of starts at the weekend after he watched his Celtic side lose to Hearts in the top-of-the-table Scottish Premiership clash.
But it seems that one of Nancy’s former players could be getting itchy feet as he admits that seeing his coach leave for Scotland could spark his desire to move to Europe one day.
You have £20m to spend in the January transfer window. How are you spending it?
Hugo Picard says Wilfried Nancy’s move to Celtic opens up return to Europe
Hugo Picard is a young French midfielder who joined Columbus Crew in 2025 to play for Nancy in the MLS.
Whilst the 22-year-old is gutted to lose his gaffer to Celtic, Picard admits that Nancy’s move to Paradise has opened a ‘gateway’ to Europe from the MLS.
Picard told Ouest France, “I never dreamed of going to the United States to play football. But I think it can be an important step towards gaining more visibility than in Ligue 2.
“There are more and more gateways to Europe. My coach (Wilfried Nancy) has just joined Celtic Glasgow, which is still a big European club.
“It shows that the door is open, and I’m not saying no to a return later on. But for now, I’m eager to see how things go for me here over the next few seasons.”
Where Wilfried Nancy needs to strengthen Celtic as a priority
Nancy will have a number of players in mind as he looks to strengthen key areas of the Celtic first-team.
With his preferred 3-4-3 system clearly being deployed, Nancy must look at getting a striker on board in January.
You have £20m to spend in the January transfer window. How are you spending it?
A right-sided midfielder and winger must also be a priority as the balance of the team is skewed with too many left-sided players.
And at the back, another right-sided central defender must be looked at as Nancy had three left-footers pegged into his system and it did look unbalanced.
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