Former legendary Celtic manager Martin O’Neill has revealed the one player he wished he would have signed during his time at Parkhead.
The 70-year-old spent a fantastic five years in Glasgow, leading the Bhoys to three Scottish Premier League titles, three Scottish Cups and a Scottish League Cup.
During his time with the club, O’Neill made many memorable signings, who continue their links to the club to this day, including the likes of Chris Sutton and John Hartson.
Although supporters vividly remember the successful additions he made at Parkhead, there will be a number of unknown close calls that we may not have known much about.
One famous report included legendary Brazilian midfielder Rivaldo being offered to come on trial in 2004 as a potential replacement for Henrik Larsson [The Guardian].
Earlier today, O’Neill took to Twitter to take part in a Q&A session after the Northern Irishman joined the social media platform.
The former Republic of Ireland and Aston Villa manager was asked which player he would have loved to have signed at Celtic, which didn’t end up happening.
O’Neill responded by briefly opening up on the Rivaldo rumours, stating that the World Cup winner was ‘very interested’ in joining the Hoops.
However, the move was never really all that close, and ultimately it came to nothing for both parties.
Rivaldo has previously opened up on these rumours too, stating that the Bhoys were interested in bringing him to Parkhead and even went as far as to send the midfielder an offer.
But, nothing came of the interest, and Rivaldo admitted it would have been an extremely difficult task to replace a club hero like Larsson.
Speaking in an interview many years later, he said [Sun Sport]: “Yep, I remember that Celtic were interested in me back then. I do not remember if we ever met to discuss it. I think Celtic sent an offer, like many other clubs at that time.
“I had meetings at Manchester, London and Liverpool. Sir Alex Ferguson was interested as well as Tottenham, we even had a meeting with Daniel Levy and Liverpool, Gerard Houlier called me.
“We also had a meeting in Manchester with Bolton’s president and their manager Sam Allardyce. I suppose there was no direct contact with Celtic. There was an offer, but it didn’t go as far as the ones from Man United, Liverpool or Bolton.”
“Yep, some British clubs offered me a trial, Celtic and Bolton spring to mind. At the time, it surprised me because I was in good form when I left AC Milan, so I did not understand their offer and the objective of it.”
“Replacing one of the biggest players in the history of the club wouldn’t have been easy, but I’m sure that I could have made my own story at Celtic if that was to be the case.
“After all I had some good years between 2004 and 2007 at Olympiakos, scoring many goals and earning some important individual and collective titles.”
The fascinating Rivaldo what-if story for Celtic fans.
For many Celtic supporters who remember the O’Neill days, the possibility of Rivaldo joining the Hoops may be one of the biggest what-if transfer stories in the club’s modern history.
Having won the Ballon d’Or just a few years earlier, it would have been really interesting to see how the Brazilian would have faired as part of Martin O’Neill’s squad.
It certainly would have been an exciting one for supporters, and even though the former Barcelona man never played for the club, the story lives on to this day.
In typical O’Neill fashion, he would have wanted to see how Rivaldo handed the demands of his squad by offering him a trial and a place heading on the American pre-season tour in 2004.
Although many fans and O’Neill would have loved to have seen how it turned out, it sounds as though it wasn’t all that close to happening in the first place, with the midfielder instead moving to Olympiacos.
I highly doubt this is something O’Neill regrets about his time at Parkhead, and it is more a question of curiosity, wondering how he would have fared in Glasgow.
In other news, Celtic Invincible expresses his thanks to Hoops as managerial career gets underway.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
