‘Unbelievable, world-class’: Reported Celtic target once stunned Solskjaer and Lambert

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Bear with us. Because this is a sentence you’ve probably not read before and, let’s face it, never will again.

If only David de Gea could be more like David Marshall.

Now, as we’re sure you’ll only be too happy to point out, while the former remains one of the world’s paramount shot-stoppers, the latter is paddling against the tide of relegation with a broken oar at a crisis-ridden Wigan Athletic.

But, with De Gea committing a series of high-profile and increasingly common blunders in recent months, the Manchester United manaager could be forgiven for wishing the butter-fingered Spaniard was producing the sort of virtuoso performances Ole Gunnar Solskjaer witnessed first-hand at Cardiff City.

‘World class’

“David Marshall’s been outstanding to make such a save at such an important time of the game, it earned us a point,” Solskjaer told the BBC in 2014 after the Scottish shot-stopper produced yet another remarkable performance during a 0-0 draw with Aston Villa.

“Just unbelievable. Just sums up his season really. I wouldn’t swap him for anyone, that’s for sure.”

Paul Lambert, meanwhile, couldn’t believe how his Villa side hadn’t won in south Wales. Marshall’s display, he says, was nothing short of ‘world-class’.

Six years have passed since Marshall’s short-lived spell as a Premier League talisman came to an end but, even at the age of 35, there is plenty of life and spring left in this old dog.

The Sun reports that, with his Wigan side plunged into administration and the Championship relegation zone with a 12-point deduction, Marshall would jump at the chance to re-join former club Celtic.

The 33-time international has unfinished business in Glasgow, with his 2007 departure leaving him with a nagging feeling of ‘what might have been’. So, with Celtic keen on a reunion that few saw coming, this has a real last-chance saloon feel about it for Marshall.

Fraser Forster and Craig Gordon both defied the doubters and rediscovered their golden touch at Parkhead. Six years after a ‘world-class’ performance which went down in Premier League folklore, could Marshall do the same?