Fabian Schar was linked to Celtic before he joined Newcastle United last summer.
You could forgive Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers if he watched Newcastle United’s win on Saturday through gaps in between fingers.
That is because Fabian Schar, a player who Celtic were linked to last summer [El Desmarque], made a mockery of his £3 million price-tag [The Northern Echo] against Cardiff.
The Newcastle centre-back scored a wonderful first for the Magpies, curling into the bottom corner after picking the ball up 50 yards from goal.
He is the sort of ball-playing defender that the Hoops manager loves, and Schar, who went on to score a second for the St James’s Park side, is definitely one that got away for the Northern Irish manager.
Celtic will have little choice but to rebuild their central defence this summer, with Dedryck Boyata likely to leave on a Bosman, while Filip Benkovic will return to parent club Leicester City.
Signing Schar last summer could have given Rodgers significantly less of a headache and the really sore thing is, they could have afforded him.
The Switzerland international only cost £3 million and Celtic could have potentially rivalled Newcastle in what they offered in salary, too.
If the Bhoys chief spent more time focused on Schar, and less time trying to prise Scott McKenna from Aberdeen with hopeless £3.5 million bids [BBC Sport], then maybe the versatile Swiss would be at Paradise now and Rodgers would have only one class centre-back to worry about replacing instead of two.
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