Osaze Urhoghide insists the prospect of personal development at Celtic convinced him to choose the Scottish giants over Leeds United and Crystal Palace, speaking to Sky Sports.
Well, hang on a minute, we hear you cry.
Isn’t Marcelo Bielsa the master when it comes to turning promising youngsters into household names? He’s the man who transformed Kalvin Phillips into England’s midfield dynamo, Luke Ayling into a rampaging Premier League full-back, and Patrick Bamford into a Golden Boot-chasing goal-machine?
Well, yes he is.
But Leeds also have four talented centre-halves fighting for a place in Bielsa’s starting XI – Liam Cooper, Diego Llorente, Robin Koch and the ever-improving Pascal Struijk.
Urhoghide signed a four-year contract with Celtic this week, turning down Leeds, Crystal Palace and Watford in favour of a move north of the border.
And the Netherlands-born 20-year-old insists the prospect of regular first-team football at a club short of reliable defensive options had him convinced Parkhead was the place to be.
Urhoghide chooses Celtic over Leeds and Crystal Palace
“It was a hard decision leaving Sheffield Wednesday,” says Urhoghide, who rejected the chance to stay at Hillsborough following their relegation from the Championship.
“I had to weigh my options and see what would be best for my career – and I ended up choosing Celtic.
“I believe it is going to be a good move with the coach (Ange Postecoglou), expectation of the club and what he wants to do in helping to develop me as a player. So it will be a good fit for me.”
Regarding interest from other teams in England, Urhoghide said: “There were some teams there. The Premier League could be nice, but it is also about playing and trying to develop and it is also about the manager and culture of the club.
“It is just the environment of the club that will help you develop and improve and Celtic had all those options, so I decided to come here.”
In truth, there are some striking similarities between Bielsa and Postecoglou.
Both arrived in Britain with a reputation for an exciting brand of free-flowing attacking football while putting faith in unproven youngsters.
And although Bielsa may have looked like the ideal mentor for Urhoghide, don’t be surprised if he comes on leaps and bounds under Postecoglou instead.
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