After eight months glued to the Celtic bench, a fresh start cannot come soon enough for Christopher Jullien.
According to L’Equipe, the £7 million centre-back is due in France on Tuesday, a medical scheduled as he closes in on a move to Montpellier.
Jullien missed out on a move to Schalke earlier in the summer, a difference of opinion during negotiations with the Bundesliga club proving fatal.
But the chance to reunite with Olivier Dall’Oglio at the Stade de la Mosson is an opportunity Jullien will almost certainly grasp with both hands.
Christopher Jullien is leaving Celtic and returning to Ligue 1
“I remember that he always wanted to play forward, to keep a clean, serene style of play,” Jullien told France Football of Dall’Oglio in 2020, after working with the Montpellier coach during a loan spell at Dijon.
“He told me to be serene, calm, to always talk with my team-mates and to play as much as possible. To bring the ball out from the defence and, above all, to bring things that other defenders could not achieve.
“And then from set pieces, he said to me: ‘Work with your magic, score us a few goals’. That was his philosophy.”
A philosophy that should be easy to grasp for Jullien, the 6ft 5ins giant of a central defender who spends his days training under the eternal purist Ange Postecoglou in Glasgow.
“I’ve always liked him (Dall’Oglio) as a man and as a coach,” Jullien would add. “After his advice, I took up yoga and it helped me.
“It allows me to be the player I am today. There is always a small trace of coach Dall’Oglio in my matches, my words, my actions and my life as a footballer.”
After nearly two years out of action – a combination of injury or and the form of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Stephen Welsh Carl Starfelt and Moritz Jenz – a parting of the ways feels like the best possible solution to a tricky problem.
But if anyone can get Jullien performing again, it’s Dall’Oglio; a coach who’s teachings formed the basis of the defender’s understanding of the beautiful game.
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