Former Celtic hero Erik Sviatchenko has admitted that Leicester City failed in an attempt to take him to the Premier League in January 2017, speaking to Football Scotland.
Five years ago this month, fears were growing at the King Power Stadium.
Leicester, Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester, were in very real danger of becoming the first Premier League champions in history to be relegated just 12 months after taking their seat on the top-flight throne.
At the time, The Foxes identified Sviatchenko as a potential solution to their defensive deficiencies.
Will Erik Sviatchenko ever play in the Premier League?
“Leicester City were ready to pay big money I think,” Sviatchenko remembers.
“They had an offer rejected of around £10million or £11m from Celtic. I was really in doubt if I wanted to go.
“So I said to Celtic; ‘Listen, I might stay if it’s okay?’. In the end, Celtic said; ‘You are our key player, and we want you to say’. I think they wanted £13m or something like that.
“At that point, Leicester had £15m to pay for two centre-backs. They said they could maybe pay £7m up front but Celtic weren’t agreeing to those terms, which I respected.
“(I) thought; ‘Okay, I’ll just be even better for the next season or two and we’ll see what happens and I might have my move one day, because that’s normal in football’.”
Will Sviatchenko ever get his Premier League chance?
Now 30 years of age, the five-time Denmark international is now plying his trade back home with FC Midtjylland, winning a trio of Superliga titles since his return to Scandanavia.
Sviatchenko was tipped to secure a second spell at Celtic a few months ago.
We only hope such a threat was made with Henriksen’s tongue pressed firmly on the inside of his cheek.
Interestingly, a move to Leicester would have seen Sviatchenko reunite with his one-time Celtic coach Brendan Rodgers.
Rodgers once called the tough-tackling defender an ‘outstanding‘ talent.
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