Scottish Premiership champions Celtic tried and failed to sign De Graafschap’s Anco Jansen during Neil Lennon’s first spell at Parkhead.
Anco Jansen admits that he was far from happy when his move to Celtic fell through, telling the Daily Record that he felt ‘literally sick’ after the deal collapsed seven years ago.
During Neil Lennon’s first spell in charge of Parkhead, when the likes of Kris Commons, Virgil van Dijk and Teemu Pukki were clad in green and white, the Scottish Premiership champions tried and failed to bring one of Holland’s hottest goalscorers to Glasgow.
Jansen had hit 24 goals while producing eight assists during a remarkable season for De Graaschap and the versatile forward appeared to be on the verge of a dream move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs the following summer.
But, according to The Express, Celtic’s attempts to sign Jansen on loan with an option to buy didn’t go down well with the Dutch outfit, who moved to block a deal – and deny their star man a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Some seven years on, Jansen is still looking back at the day the deal collapsed.
“Celtic came in for me,” he said. “But De Graafschap didn’t want to cooperate with Celtic and made it impossible for the loan deal to go through.
“I was literally sick and depressed after it. I took a month off from football and refused to play for them.”
These days, 30-year-old Jansen is something of a cult hero at Eredivisie outfit Emmen, retaining huge popularity on the terraces despite missing most of the season with injury.
And, with just 22 league goals to his name since the start of the 2014/15 campaign, the experienced Dutchman has never come close to replicating that remarkable year at De Graafschap.
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