As far as Kike Salas is concerned, a first ever La Liga goal in front of Sevilla’s feverish Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan crowd provided more than enough justification for his decision to turn down a summer move to Celtic.
The Scottish Premiership champions lodged an enquiry for Salas in the final week of the window, turning to Liverpool’s Nat Phillips after discovering that the 21-year-old, Andalusia-born centre-half had little interest in flying his beloved Seville nest.
“Kike Salas is a great example of a kid who has come through our youth system,” Sevilla director Victor Orta revealed following the close of the window. “Many teams wanted him on loan.
“I had practically every team in the (Spanish) second division asking for him. He also had the chance to go to top foreign teams like Celtic and Red Bull Salzburg. But he didn’t.”
Kike Salas turned down Celtic to stay in Spain
Starting two of Sevilla’s last five La Liga matches, the homegrown academy graduate is silencing those who felt that he needed to leave in order to play regular, first-team football.
A stunning finish off the bench against Almeria on Wednesday night, meanwhile, should do his hopes of more senior action no harm at all. Salas striding forwards from left-back and hammering a fizzing, long-range shot into the top corner.
With Sevilla picking up a much-needed, confidence-boosting victory over Almeria – Salas’ late stunner the fifth in a 5-1 win – was the glacier cherry on top of the icing slathered over a very tasty cake.
‘Incredible’
“I am very happy,” Salas beamed at full-time, Sevilla climbing up to 11th in the table (Diario de Sevilla). “Everything has gone very well. There is nothing more beautiful than scoring a goal at the Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan in front of your fans.
“It was incredible.”
For Celtic, however, the emergence of the similarly left-footed Liam Scales is going some way to offsetting the disappointment at seeing a deal for Salas fall through late in the window.
Salas’ snub, and an injury to Maik Nawrocki, appear something of a sliding doors’ moment for a player who shone against Rangers, and will now take some budging from Brendan Rodgers’ starting XI.
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