Tony Watt may always be mainly remembered for one moment, but he has experienced plenty in his career.
The striker was just 18 when his goal against Barcelona secured one of the most famous results in Celtic’s history.
Neil Lennon sent him out on loan to Lierse in Belgium in the following season, and he racked up eight goals in nine starts aged just 19.
Unfancied by Ronny Deila, this earned Watt a move to Standard Liege. His career from then on has been extremely unstable, and he has joined a new club almost every season.
His most recent move abroad was in 2019, when he spent six months at CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria. Asked about the move, he reflected on his time in the Bulgarian capital – and revealed the brutally honest decisive factor.
Ex-Celtic striker Tony Watt on moving to CSKA Sofia
Watt’s move to Bulgaria came after a season at St Johnstone which saw him score just two league goals.
He linked up in Sofia with fellow ex-Celtic youngster Graham Carey.
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He discussed his career at Celtic and beyond with Foreign Fields, and his take on his time in Sofia was particularly revealing.
Asked what attracted him to play in Bulgaria, Watt said: “Just a contract offer that I got, and it was… (laughs) it was good.
“At the time, it was the best one for me, and I went over. It was a lovely place, Sofia was beautiful. My wife came with me.
“We really enjoyed the city, we had some friends over there. And it was cheap, you could go out, and we were out for food every day with the players and their wives.
“It was probably one of the best cultural experiences. It’s a generic answer, but I think every experience in football you build from. If there’s nine good things and one bad thing, you take the nine good ones, you learn from them and you learn from the bad as well.
“That’s just life, you just need to take your experiences, and the older you get in football the more experience you get.”
Celtic youngsters moving abroad
We are witnessing a rise in young players from Scotland and Britain playing their football abroad – particularly, at the moment, in Italy.
This trend was started by Liam Henderson’s move to Bari in 2018 – Henderson had spent time on loan at Rosenborg prior to this. Henderson is now playing for his sixth Italian club.
Liam Morrison and Barry Hepburn both left the Hoops’ academy to join Bayern Munich five years ago, whilst Matthew Anderson more recently has spent time in Austria and Belgium, where he was handed Player of the Month in the second tier.
Tsonoalo Letsosa has also recently left the Hoops to play in Belgium, joining Lommel SK briefly before returning to Scotland with Partick Thistle.
Ewan Henderson and Stephen Welsh have both also spent time in Belgium, whilst Mikey Johnston has played for Vitoria Guimaraes in Portugal, and had a stunning move to Flamengo fall through in the summer.
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