Celtic have a troubled history of losing players to the Premier League.
Just in this decade, the likes of Matt O’Riley, Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer have all moved down south – as well as manager Ange Postecoglou.
Brendan Rodgers infamously made the move to Leicester in 2019, the same year when Kieran Tierney swapped the Hoops for Arsenal.
It’s a tried and tested pathway – players are often attracted not by a club of a higher stature, but by the level of the league itself – as well as a healthier pay-packet.
But it isn’t always that simple – one Celtic hero has revealed the blunt reason why he rejected Premier League interest to make the move to Glasgow.
Mikael Lustig on rejecting the Premier League to join Celtic
Mikael Lustig was relatively unknown when he joined the Hoops from Rosenborg.
By the time he left, he was one of the most decorated foreign players in the club’s history, and an established fan-favourite.
READ MORE: Neil Lennon says he is a better manager now than in Celtic spells
But things could have been very different.
Lustig was already a full Sweden international when he joined Neil Lennon’s side, so it’s understandable that he had already seen interest from elsewhere.
And speaking to fotbollskanalen, he has discussed the interest he had from the Premier League in his Rosenborg days.
Lustig said: “I had the chance to go to West Ham and Fulham when I was at Rosenborg.
“But there were two teams that were in the Championship one year, then the Premier League one year and fought at the bottom. At that time I really couldn’t defend. I couldn’t go there and just defend, then I would be completely depressed.
“When I chose, it was really that I needed to go to a team that fought at the top and won a lot of games, because that was the offensive game I had.
“It was really only in the last few years that I started to focus on money. When you felt that ‘now it’s good to collect the last few marbles.’
“Before, I didn’t really care about salary. But it was more that I was going to a club that played offensive football.”
It’s fair to say that by the time he finished his Hoops career he could defend – he was often playing as a centre-back.
Swedish Celtic defenders
Everyone knows about Henrik Larsson’s 242 goals and god-like status, but along with Lustig, the Hoops have had a fair number of defenders from Sweden.
Johan Mjallby, who shares AIK connections with Lustig, came to Glasgow shortly after Larsson and made a significant contribution in Martin O’Neill’s backline.
Carl Starfelt may have only spent two years at Celtic Park, but despite a shaky start, he had built up a formidable partnership with Cameron Carter-Vickers by the time he left.
Daniel Majstorovic was definitely a presence in the backline under Lennon, while Gustaf Lagerbielke just showed for Braga that he maybe didn’t show his true self while at Celtic.
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