Celtic fans were left stunned last week when former boss Neil Lennon made a shock move to Omonia Nicosia – and he can now finally work with Tim Matavz.
The Bhoys parted ways with Lennon in February 2021 during a dismal campaign, and Lennon spent more than a year out of football.
Lennon missed out on the Sunderland job and Omonia swooped in, handing Lennon a surprise switch to Cyprus.
Lennon took charge of Omonia for the first time on Saturday, hosting Doxa in the Cypriot First Division.
Unfortunately for Lennon and Omonia, Ismail Sassi bagged a last-gasp equaliser for Doxa, handing them a 2-2 draw.
Omonia looked to have won it when Tim Matavz found the net on 77 minutes, but it just wasn’t to be for Lennon.
Lennon may well be delighted to be working with Matavz after all having actually targeted him during his first spell as Celtic boss.
Back in 2011, Celtic made a move to sign Matavz from Groningen, rivalling Napoli, Schalke, Wolfsburg and Palermo for his signature.
Matavz was in the middle of a 20-goal campaign for Groningen, having smashed 16 goals in 2009-10 campaign too.
The Slovenian rejected Celtic with the idea of joining Napoli, but that deal fell through and he joined PSV Eindhoven instead.
Matavz did score 44 goals in 102 games and recently enjoyed a great spell at Vitesse Arnhem, bagging 41 goals in 90 outings for the Dutch side.
Now 33, Matavz maybe hasn’t quite lived up to the potential he showed at Groningen, but he can certainly be a threat over in Cyprus.
Lennon was in charge of Celtic at the time of their move for Matavz, and 11 years on, he finally has the chance to work with the striker after all.
Saturday’s goal was a great start for Matavz under Lennon, with this potentially the start of a great relationship together – one that we could have seen at Celtic more than a decade ago.
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