Going into the summer, Celtic knew they needed to undergo a major squad transformation. The club had finished 25 points behind the Rangers in the Scottish Premiership last season and several important players like Odsonne Edouard, Ryan Christie, Kristoffer Ajer and others were also headed out of Parkhead. Thus, the club ended up making twelve additions to Ange Postecoglou’s squad, ten on a permanent basis and two on loan.
Naturally, the club had been linked with a lot of players regarding potential moves but could not sign all of them. One player that they missed out on is Sacha Boey, who joined Galatasaray instead.
Right-back was an area of need for Celtic, with Anthony Ralston being the only option there at the start of the campaign.
Boey has now revealed his reasons for picking a move to Galatasaray over Celtic. As reported by The Scottish Sun, the former Rennes star said:
"“In the summer I had a straight choice between Celtic and Galatasaray.“The previous season I had played against Celtic and got noticed, It was a great stadium and a fantastic atmosphere.“I liked Celtic, but I said no.“Galatasaray is an incredible club – they are the biggest in Turkey and the fans are unbelievable. Everything is huge.“I made up my mind quickly. I want to win trophies. In football, they only remember winners.”"
Boey reveals why he turned down chance to join Celtic and chose Galatasaray
It is safe to say that in the end, things worked out quite well for Celtic. Anthony Ralston has been an absolute revelation this season and is putting in great performances week after week.
On the other hand, after missing out on a move for Boey, Celtic ended up signing Josip Juranovic, and it is safe to say that he has been a solid signing as well. While Ralston has held onto the right-back spot, the Croatian international has featured mostly at left-back. And even though that is not his natural position, he has done a good job there. His versatility has led to him even playing on the right wing recently.
On the other hand, Boey has not played a lot of football since moving to Galatasaray. According to stats from Transfermarkt, the right-back has made 7 appearances this season, featuring for 605 minutes in total.