Kara Mbodji scored an own goal as Celtic cruised to a 3-0 Champions League win away to Anderlecht on Wednesday.
Kara Mbodji might not have expected to still be an Anderlecht player by the time the summer transfer window shut at the end of August.
After all, the Senegalese centre-back has long been linked with a move to the Premier League with The Sun reporting that Leicester City had two bids rejected in the January transfer window. The report added that West Ham, Swansea, West Brom and Sunderland were eyeing the £10 million-rated defender ahead of the summer.
“In January I narrowly missed out on my dream of playing in England – for the third consecutive transfer window,” Mbodji, who shone against Manchester United in the Europa League quarter-finals last season, said in quotes reported by The Sun.
However, if there was any interested suitors watching on as Anderlecht hosted Celtic in the Champions League group stages on Wednesday night, they won’t have too impressed as Mbodji, who came off the bench to replace Uros Spahic just before half time, deflected a tame Patrick Roberts shot into the net for an own goal in the 50th minute.
In the end, the Scottish champions cruised to a 3-0 win away to a side they are expected to battle for third place and Europa League qualification behind group favourites PSG and Bayern Munich.
West Ham fans may have been lamenting the club’s failure to adequately reinforce a defence that has conceded the joint most goals in the Premier League with bottom-of-the-table Crystal Palace (13) in the first six games of the new season.
The Sun reported that The Hammers have been tracking Mbodji since as far back as 2015, going as far as to suggest that a £4 million deal was done and dusted, while Celtic were also interested at the time.
However, his careless own goal against Brendan Rodgers’ side in midweek will do little to suggest he would have been £10 million well spent.
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