Cristiano Piccini was reportedly wanted by Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers but headed to La Liga rather than the Scottish Premiership.
Tuesday night didn’t make for great viewing for Celtic fans.
Moussa Dembele scored for Lyon in the Champions League, John McGinn set up a goal for Aston Villa in the Championship and Cristiano Piccini impressed at Old Trafford.
According to the Daily Record in August, Brendan Rodgers wanted a new right-back this summer with Mikael Lustig past his best, Antony Ralston not yet ready to start regularly and Cristian Gamboa out of favour.
And Italian Piccini was the man Rodgers desired, having impressed in Portugal with Sporting Lisbon last season.
But Piccini ended the transfer window as a Valencia player, joining the La Liga outfit for £7 million. So Celtic fans were keeping a close eye on the 26-year-old as Los Che travelled to Manchester United for the midweek Champions League clash.
And it’s fair to say many are ruing their failing to bring the former Italy U21 ace to Parkhead.
Piccini is far from the finished product. His end product remains erratic and he can be caught out of position at times. But he would have offered the rapid pace that Celtic are currently lacking on the right with Lustig not the player he was a few years ago.
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