Benjamin Nygren, who is reportedly set to join Celtic, previously had trials at a trio of European giants.
The Parkhead club are said to have beaten Belgian side Anderlecht to the signing of Nygren, who scored 16 goals in 32 games for Nordsjaelland last season.
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And now, Mats Gren, who was previously sporting director at Swedish side IFK Gothenburg, has revealed that Nygren had trials at Inter Milan, AC Milan and Bayern Munich, along with a club in England.
Instead, he chose to join Genk in a £4 million deal.
Gren recently spoke to SunSport: "We took him into the first team at IFK and he was fantastic in pre-season and started to play," he said.
"When someone that young begins to play regularly then of course there is a lot of interest in them from around Europe.
"Benjamin always had a really nice touch on the ball and great skills.
"During that time, he travelled to so many big clubs for visits. They all wanted to sign him.
"He was at both of the Milan clubs in Italy, he went to England and also visited Bayern Munich.
"There were so many options for him but in the end, he decided to go to Belgium and sign for Genk.
"I had a lot of discussions with his father at that time and I told him, ‘Go to a club where he has a chance to play’."
Nygren appears set to become Brendan Rodgers' second summer signing, and Gren believes he has what it takes to succeed at Parkhead, much like several of his Swedish predecessors: "I am not surprised that there is interest in him now and I think Celtic would be a good next step for him," he said.
"I know all about Scottish football. I played against Rangers in the Champions League with Grasshoppers.
"I have also been to Scotland to visit places like Glasgow and Edinburgh on holiday.
"It’s a nice country and I have watched a lot of the football there.
"Moving to Britain would be a sensible next step and he would also have the chance to play European football at a high level.
"You look at Celtic’s history and there have been a lot of Swedish players who have done well there.
"Henrik Larsson, Johan Mjallby and Mikael Lustig have all done extremely well and maybe Benjamin can be the next one.
"The style of Scottish football really suits Swedish footballers and I am sure he would do well at Celtic."
