Celtic fans all love a good story about how a legend in football almost joined the club.
We all remember Martin O’Neill talking about trying to sign Brazilian superstar, Rivaldo, during his time at the club between 2000-2005.
And we have also had genuine legends of the game grace the Parkhead turf. Henrik Larsson is the most obvious one and former Manchester United hero, Roy Keane, also had a brief Parkhead spell albeit at the end of his illustrious career.
But Jim Goodwin has just shared how Celtic almost signed another Manchester United legend before he had even made his mark in the game way back in 2000.
Alex Ferguson ‘convinced’ John O’Shea not to join Celtic
John O’Shea was an extremely successful Manchester United defender. The Republic of Ireland man won five Premier League titles, an FA Cup, two League Cups, three Community Shields, a Champions League and a FIFA Club World Cup during his twelve-year stay at the club.
But it could have been all so different had Sir Alex Ferguson not intervened.
Goodwin said [The Courier], “John was geared up to come to Celtic with me, but Sir Alex Ferguson turned up on his door in Waterford, completely out of the blue.
“His father nearly had a heart attack when he opened the door.
“He convinced John to go to Manchester United instead of Celtic.”
O’Shea was set to join Celtic as a young 18-year-old and would have likely been drafted into the youth team.
But just imagine how the United legend would have fared under Martin O’Neill with Bobo Balde, John Myallby and Joos Valgaeren showing him the ropes.
He would have been a brilliant player for Celtic. But in the end, it all worked out for him as, clearly, he had a very successful career at United and left the club a legend.
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