Following on from Craig Burley’s interview in this morning’s Daily Record, the former Celtic attacking midfielder revealed that in order to fund the ill fated £5m move for the much maligned Brazilian defender, the Celtic board at that time were looking to offload players including him.
Scheidt was signed by Kenny Dalgleish from Brazilian side Gremio. When Dalgleish left the club, new manager, Martin O’Neill shipped the defender out on loan to Corinthians after making just one start and five appearance for the Hoops. Amazingly, Scheidt won three caps for Brazil albeit in three friendlies.
Burley revealed, “Celtic paid more than £5million for Scheidt, which back in the day was a huge fee, so there was a concerted effort to get finance in to pay for that.
“They knew they could get money for me. They could’ve got money for other people but they didn’t want to sell some of the others. So I was let go and, to be honest, I was happy to go because I wanted away from some of the stuff.
“But for that kind of money, Celtic didn’t get anything back. I don’t know how many games that fella played but it wasn’t many. In Brazil at the time, they were giving players a few international caps so they could be flogged for huge fees to European clubs and that’s what happened with Scheidt.”
Scheidt’s contract was paid out in full by Celtic in 2002 after the Brazilian failed UK work permit requirements so he returned to Brazil, joining Atletico Miniero and after one season he left to join Botafago where he was subsequently released in 2006.