Former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey says he had the opportunity to join Celtic back in the day, but decided to reject a move. Heskey enjoyed a successful career that saw him win 62 England caps and play for a number of Premier League sides.
According to the man himself, current Celtic boss Martin O'Neill actually tried to sign Heskey during his first stint at the club, which was a particularly successful one, running from 2000 to 2005.
"Celtic were interested in me when Martin O'Neill went up there, but you're playing in the Premier League during your prime, it's difficult to leave that to go play anywhere else, including Scotland," Heskey told Casinolyze.
"Don't get me wrong, Celtic are a huge, absolutely massive club alongside Rangers, but it would've been really hard for it to really turn my head at the time."
Heskey would either have been playing for Liverpool or Birmingham City at the time, leaving Anfield in 2004 after scoring 39 in 150 league appearances, and he went on to score 14 times in 68 league appearances for Birmingham.
He also went on to play for Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa, and he was ultimately signed by O'Neill for Villa, controversially playing for both Birmingham and Villa during his career.
Heskey would have been some signing for the club back in the day, albeit he is a similar player to John Hartson, who was with Celtic from 2001 to 2006, and the Welshman was rather productive despite being more of a hold-up frontman.
Hartson scored 88 times in 146 games for the club, and was part of a very successful group, of course.
But Heskey did well, winning a couple of League Cups, an FA Cup and a UEFA Cup during his career, with the League Cups coming at Leicester City and the others coming at Anfield. He also won the Player of the Season and Players' Player of the Season at Birmingham, so he won't have been regretting the decision to go to St Andrew's instead of Celtic at the time.
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