Celtic were hoping to sign Manchester City talent Yan Couto on loan this summer, but he ended up picking am one to Portuguese side Sporting Braga instead.
Celtic simply had to go out and sign a right back over the summer.
Having sold Jeremie Frimpong to Bayer Leverkusen in January and seen Jonjoe Kenny return to Everton, Celtic needed another right back.
In the end, they signed Josip Juranovic from Legia Warsaw. The Croatian was one of a host of Celtic targets, including Couto.
The Brazilian talent was a loan target for Celtic, even attending the Europa League game against Jablonec at Celtic Park.
Unfortunately for Celtic, Couto instead chose to sign for Sporting Braga, heading off to Portugal for the season.
Caldwell comments on Couto’s Celtic decision
Couto has so far started four league games for Braga, recording one assist.
The 19-year-old clearly has huge potential, with Celtic maybe a little gutted that they missed out.
Gary Caldwell Is now Manchester City’s loan manager, with the ex-Celtic defender overseeing loaned-out players like Couto.
Speaking to Clyde1 Superscoreboard, Caldwell admitted he spoke to Couto at his house about a Celtic move.
Couto was blown away by Celtic’s ‘incredible’ supporters and stadium, believing they were big draws for him.
In the end though, Couto was worried about the language barrier and picked a move to Portugal, leaving Celtic gutted.
“He was going to go there on loan,” said Caldwell. “We actually spoke about it when I was at his house. He said the stadium and the supporters were incredible.”
“He felt like the language barrier would have been a big thing and he has settled quickly in Portugal. So he has probably made the right decision for his career development but he did mention when he was at the stadium, the supporters, he said it was incredible. And he was drawn by that but he decided to go to Braga,” he added.
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