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The National (Scotland)
The National (Scotland)
Sport
Ewan Paton

Jeremie Frimpong in honest Celtic transfer doubt admission

Jeremie Frimpong has candidly opened up on getting cold feet upon his move to Celtic in 2019.

The defender joined the Hoops under Neil Lennon around four years ago and went on to become a real fans' favourite at Parkhead.

He joined from Manchester City for around £500K. Celtic made a huge profit on the Dutch right-back, as he eventually moved on to join Bayer Leverkusen in January 2021 for a whopping £11million.

He's been linked with clubs such as Manchester United this summer, as another big move beckons for the infectious defender.

But it could all have panned out very differently for him had he not been convinced by his agent to go through with the move to City.

Speaking to Rising Ballers, he revealed that he was on his way up to Glasgow to sign for the Hoops, before changing his mind and wanting to perform a U-Turn on his decision.

But once he realised the true scale of the opportunity at the Scottish champions, he stuck with his original choice to move to Celtic.

He said: "It was just a normal day. Just going into training and I am going on my phone and seeing links to Celtic. Jeremie this, Jeremie that. So I am like 'Yo, things are getting real.' My teammates were asking why I wasn't going to training. Afterward they came in and said 'Jeremie is it true you are leaving? We are like brothers.

"I packed to go to Celtic and I said to my agent and the driver 'let's turn around I don't want to go no more'. My agent was stressing. He was so stressed, he was saying 'Jeremie you don't understand this opportunity. This is life changing. This is first-team. This is Celtic. Big history and they play Champions League.'

"My brother text me on the phone and said forget about your friends. I understand how you are feeling but you said you wanted to be a footballer. There comes a time in your life when you need to leave your friends and need to sacrifice a lot, even your family. That journey starts now. Once he said that I was like 'ok we are going'. They were like brothers to me and leaving them was one of the worst things I had to go through."

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