Celtic are full of this hard luck stories when it comes to transfers.
The most recent example of Ivan Toney for our younger readers where the big striker was in the Parkhead boardroom but we decided to sign Albian Ajeti instead and for our readers of a certain vintage, do you remember when David Ginola turned his back on us and went to Newcastle?
There are various other examples of this but this one has to be up there amongst the best.
Speaking on The Go Radio Football Show, Peter Grant recounted the time when Tony Mowbray almost signed French World Cup winner Olivier Giroud.
Grant recalled, “We should have had him but he was playing with Tours. We went to see him.
“He scored a hat trick that night.
“But I’d followed him for a long time because I like to watch young players play and somebody that was scoring goals in the lower divisions in France.
“We went to see him and sure as fate, the night Tony [Mowbray] went to see him he scored a hat trick and Tony was very, very impressed and we tried to get the deal done.
“He ended up going to Montpellier, they got promoted, they won the league that year and then he got a move six months later to Arsenal for about nine/ten million pounds.”
What a signing that would have been. And if I remember right, Mowbray signed Marc Antoine Fortune at that time?
No comparison there really?
I suppose that really compounded Mowbray’s disastrous reign at Celtic where he eventually sacked in March 2010 after an embarrassing 4-0 defeat at St Mirren.