Rangers defender Connor Goldson played with new Celtic signing Shane Duffy at Brighton and Hove Albion – and seemingly tried to dissuade him from joining the Bhoys.
After pursuing Duffy for a couple of weeks, Celtic finally laded their man last week in a major coup.
They beat Premier League teams to sign Duffy, and have landed him on a season-long loan deal in what is a dream move for the Irishman.
Duffy grew up supporting Celtic, and pushed for the move to Parkhead despite receiving that Premier League interest.
Duffy now joins Kristoffer Ajer and Christopher Jullien in a talented list of centre backs at Celtic, and he will be looking to beat Rangers to the title this season.
It now means that Duffy and Goldson will go head-to-head when Celtic meet Rangers, having previously played together at Brighton.
Duffy has now told the Glasgow Times that Goldson actually told him to ‘stay away’, as he didn’t want to see such a talented player join Celtic.
The Irishman added that the pair have a great friendship, but they will be enemies when they play against each other this season.
“He actually told me not to come,” said Duffy. “He said ‘stay away!’ But we have a good relationship. I am very close with Connor from my Brighton days. It’s a difficult one. It’s different up here but we are close so yeah…it’s an awkward one!”
“He is still my friend so it’s hard to tell what will happen because the rivalry is so fierce. He’s a mate but listen, when I play against him, he won’t be a mate. He will be the exact same!” he added.
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