Celtic appear to pick their friends well. After all, if you are on the lookout for talented young players available on affordable deals, there are certainly worse clubs to strike up a relationship with than Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
Over the last decade or so, Celtic have signed no fewer than seven players from the perennial Premier League champions, the majority arriving on short-term loans in pursuit of the sort of regular first-team football that had proven to be out of reach in a star-studded squad south of the border.
And while not all of those deals worked out as expected – Daniel Arzani was a big disappointment and John Guidetti didn’t really live up to expectations – most Celtic supporters will look back fondly on the time when Olivier Ntcham, Patrick Roberts, Dedryck Boyata, Jason Denayer and especially Jeremie Frimpong were wearing green-and-white.
Frimpong, in particular, was nothing short of a revelation at Parkhead, and Celtic deserve much credit for the role they played in the development of a man who can now be considered among the very best full-backs anywhere in European football. The flying Dutchman has a remarkable 12 goals and 11 assists this season, and is part of that outstanding Bayer Leverkusen side cruising 13 points clear of Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga table.
Celtic missed out on Manchester City’s Yan Couto
And when Frimpong left Celtic for Leverkusen back in 2021, The Hoops jumped on speed dial and set about lighting up Guardiola’s phone again. This time, however, their pursuit of another Man City starlet would end in disappointment.
“He was going (to Parkhead) on loan,” former Celtic defender Gary Caldwell told Clyde SuperScoreboard of one Yan Couto.
Caldwell was working as Man City’s loan manager at the time, and was a key part of the discussions which eventually led to Couto – now capped three times for Brazil – joining Braga instead of the Scottish giants.
“We actually spoke about it when I was at his house. He said the stadium the (Celtic) supporters were incredible,” Caldwell added. “(But) he felt like the language barrier would have been a big thing.
“So he’s probably made the right decision for his career development. He was drawn by (the chance to play for Celtic) but he decided to go to Braga.”
Three years on, while Couto has not quite scales the same heights as Frimpong, he’s certainly not far behind. Girona, like Leverkusen, have taken European football by storm this season, a place in the Champions League for the very first time their’s to lose. Couto has been a major part of that unexpected success story, a rampaging, rocket-fuelled presence down the right-hand side.
Real Madrid or Manchester City?
Still technically a Manchester City player, Couto’s form has reportedly caught the eye of none other than Real Madrid. There is, then, a very real chance that Couto will be wearing the colours of one of Europe’s A-list clubs as soon as 2024/25.
“Yes, if (Real Madrid) are interested, they would be an option,” Couto tells Catalunya Radio. “I’m not going to lie.
“(But) I am a City player. I have a contract there and I dream of playing for City.”
According to reports, Couto is valued at around £22 million these days. He may have turned down the chance to follow in Frimpong’s Parkhead footsteps but, with both full-backs seemingly destined for the elite, Celtic could do worse than to cast their eyes on the newest generation of Man City starlets this summer if Brendan Rodgers wants to add more fresh-faced talent to his roster.
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