New Celtic signing Luis Palma was close to joining Portuguese club

Many Celtic fans were unhappy with the club’s summer business, with no star names arriving at Parkhead despite the Scottish champions making a number of signings. One of those was Luis Palma, who signed a 5-year contract with the Hoops after joining from Greek side Aris FC for a transfer fee believed to be around €4.75 million.

If things had worked out differently, Palma could have been playing his football in Braga instead of Glasgow. The Honduran international was close to joining the Portuguese club last year.

Celtic fans can thank his boyhood club Vida for flipping the script and selflessly helping him secure a move to Aris FC. It would have made more financial sense for them to have transferred him to SC Braga.

Things played out well for Palma in Greece. And that is the reason he now finds himself at Celtic Park.

New Celtic signing was close to joining Portuguese club

As reported by Glasgow Times, Vida president Luis Cruz told LaPrensa:

"“At the beginning of last year we had everything closed with Braga. That’s where Pablo talked to me about it, he told me that we should take him to Greece, here we will have a chance and because the competition in Portugal is not easy, I always trusted Luis.“Furthermore, I told Pablo that they had the last word and I am going to support him in the best way, perhaps Greece was not the best decision, but now Luis is at Celtic and we hope to enjoy those spectacular goals he scores.”"

Cruz seemed to take delight in Palma’s move to Celtic as he further went on to add:

"“We know that his departure from Aris was the best thing that could have happened to him, now it is his turn to prove and earn a place in Celtic’s starting team and we know that the club’s path is super difficult, but Luis has a lot of quality.”"

Palma enjoyed a fantastic run at Aris FC in the Greek Super League. His energetic performances attracted the attention of the Scottish champions and now Palma will be playing Champions League football this year.

Palma has yet to make an appearance for Celtic this season. He was an unused substitute in the 1-0 win away at Ibrox against the Rangers.

So far this season, Daizen Maeda has largely been the preferred left forward with Yang Hyun-jun also an option there. Celtic fans will need to be patient, but the talent of Palma should eventually shine through.

Many are viewing Palma as the replacement for Jota. But it is important to note that he is a very different type of player, but a very effective one nonetheless.