Celtic's decision not to sign Marcelo Saracchi gets more confusing with every update. Saracchi played an important role last season despite not being the first-choice left-back.
The Uruguayan was Kieran Tierney's back-up, and with no disrespect intended to Tierney, that's one of the best back-up games in football due to the Scotland international's injury record.
Saracchi made 19 league appearances in all, and he was certainly worthy of his league and cup winners' medals. Celtic could have made the deal permanent for just £1.5million, with Boca Juniors happy to sell, but they decided not to.
Celtic needed a left-back and could have signed a proven one who knows the club for cheap, but they didn't, and it wasn't because they had a better option in mind. The Hoops never signed a senior left-back and left themselves with a huge gap.
They did sign 18-year-old Chelsea talent Landon Emenalo, but not only is he lacking first-team football experience, but the Hoops didn't even register him for their European squad.
Fans were left to imagine that there must have been something more going on with Saracchi, who later joined Houston Dynamo after waiting for a Celtic offer that never came.
But according to the defender, there certainly weren't any issues between him and Martin O'Neill. He told the Daily Record: "It was a great feeling of course, and it meant a lot coming from him. He was incredible. I saw him like a grandpa. We had a special relationship even though there was a language barrier.
“He didn’t speak Spanish, and I didn’t speak much English. Just by gestures and expressions. He gave a smile, I gave a smile, and we understood each other. He’s a great person; he knows how to handle the locker room. Apart from also knowing tactics and coaching, he knows how to handle the group for sure.”
It's baffling that Celtic didn't pull the trigger on that move, and Saracchi has already made it perfectly clear that he would have liked to make the move permanently. Another black mark on Celtic's poor recruitment.
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