Former Celtic hero Emilio Izaguirre has made moves to strike up a new-found partnership between the Hoops and his current side Motagua.
The 36-year-old announced his retirement earlier this year, bringing a playing career which spanned across almost two decades to an end.
His most successful spells as a player came during his time at Parkhead, where he played under the likes of Neil Lennon, Ronny Deila and Brendan Rodgers.
The left-back’s first spell at the club was the most impressive, and after strong performances, he was linked with moves to English Premier League giants Manchester United.
However, serious injury hindered any hopes the Honduran may have had of playing down south, instead remaining at Celtic Park until 2017.
He was replaced by up-and-coming star Kieran Tierney, who took over the first team position ahead of Izaguirre’s Parkhead exit. But a brief return came in 2018 when he played the backup role for one year.
Three years on from his second Celtic exit, Izaguirre has turned out for Motagua and Marathon in his homeland before retiring in 2022.
The former Hoops hero has already made his next steps after retirement, jumping into a boardroom role and becoming the sporting director at his boyhood club Motagua.
And the ex-defender is looking to make his mark in his behind-the-scenes role by creating a new link-up from Honduras with Celtic.
Emilio Izaguirre makes move to create Celtic/Motagua linkup
Izaguirre has admitted he has already held several conversations with Hoops representatives as he looks to create a link between two of his old clubs.
The 36-year-old sounds confident that we should hear confirmation of the link between Celtic and Motagua very soon, as the Celtic family continues to stretch across the globe.
He said [Daily Record]: “I have already spoken with Celtic’s representatives with the aim of establishing a strategic alliance with both clubs.
“Our president visits the UK a lot and will go to Glasgow soon to confirm it. I want to use Celtic’s technical coaches, their training complex and establish an agreement that would hugely improve this club which is what we want.
“I was passionate about learning, and I also remember that at Celtic, they gave me three boys to train like me and eat what I ate. It was then I realised coaching wasn’t for me, and I wanted to do something bigger.
“In two years, I worked closely with and prepared Kieran Tierney, and he was eventually sold to Arsenal for £25 million. That’s how my desire to prepare footballers and their structure for their careers grew.”
In recent years, we have seen the club make strives to create new partnerships with different clubs from continents all over the globe.
So it seems as though Izaguirre is looking to use his links with the Bhoys to benefit his current side just months into his role as a Sporting Director.
Ultimately, it can only really be a win-win for all parties, with the avenue to help develop future players across the globe whilst also having some sort of transfer link to an untouched transfer market.
It will certainly be interesting to see how this one develops in the coming weeks, months and years as the Celtic family continues to be expanded.
This is a move that we could see the club potentially make more often by using former players from across the world to create many different links to clubs and countries.
In other news, Former Celtic boss Neil Lennon makes title race claim ahead of derby trip.
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