Celtic’s signing of Marcelo Saracchi came out of the blue.
With Kieran Tierney in the door, Brendan Rodgers was keen to add meaningful competition for the Hoops hero, and it came in the form of Saracchi on loan from Boca Juniors.
The Uruguayan, who has also played for Galatasaray, RB Leipzig and River Plate, came to Glasgow with plenty of pedigree and is certainly not content to be back-up.
With eight international caps under his belt, he faces intense competition at international level too, with Uruguayan left-backs also playing for Napoli, Sporting Lisbon and Flamengo.
Despite this, Saracchi was given an unexpected start as captain in Uruguay’s friendly against the Dominican Republic on Friday – and he discussed his move to Celtic after the game.
Marcelo Saracchi on Celtic move
The friendly bizarrely took place in Malaysia, in an ‘utterly bizarre’ situation which has seen the Uruguayan FA handed a fine for manager Marcelo Bielsa’s squad selection.
For a player with just a single-digit number of caps, being trusted with the captaincy was understandably a huge honour for Saracchi.
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Speaking to Uruguayan TV after the game, he was asked about his move to Glasgow, and opened up on the thought process behind it – as well as what he’s noticed about Scottish football.
He said: “I’d say that it’s totally different football from football in Argentina, which is more frictional, more South American. Scottish football is a little more similar to English, perhaps.
“My idea was always to get minutes. This is a moment for being considered for the national team, so it was always about aiming for that – playing, getting minutes, because important things are coming up for the national team.
“I would like to be in, whatever role that is. The coaching staff are constantly sending us analysis of the matches that we play at our club, so they have certain parameters of what kind of full-backs we are.
“And they want us to repeat what we do at our clubs and perfect it here for the national team with Marcelo’s style.”
Will Marcelo Saracchi become Celtic’s first choice left-back?
Given Saracchi’s desire for minutes, selling him the idea of competing for a place with a modern Celtic icon could have been a hard sell.
But Tierney’s fitness record was likely a consideration. The former Arsenal man has completed just one 90 minutes since coming back, and he is still getting up to speed physically.
But could Saracchi displace him? The Uruguayan’s assist for Daizen Maeda’s header against Kilmarnock showed the contribution he can make in the final third.
He has also shown signs of comfort in the inverted role which Greg Taylor excelled in – so it will be fascinating to see how Rodgers manages his options going forward.
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