Cameron Carter-Vickers: Why permanent Celtic deal dragged on and his ambition of a 'High-C'

Cameron Carter-Vickers during a Celtic Champions' Training Day at Celtic Park, on July 18, 2022, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Paul Devlin / SNS Group)

The centre-back’s father, Howard Carter, earned the High C nickname in scaling the heights of US professional basketball, spending two years with NBA team Denver Nuggets in the 1980s before playing in France and Greece. And his son considers that playing in the Champions League will make for a familial slam dunk.

“It’s really exciting,” he said. “The Champions League is the best club competition in the world. I want to be up against the best players and the best teams in the world to see how we measure up. It’s elite level. My dad did that, albeit in a different sport, so it would be nice to test myself in the Champions League. All professional athletes want to compete against the best in their sport. So to do that will be really exciting and I’m looking forward to it. I’ll take anyone in the group stage. Whoever you get, they’ll be good teams with top players.”

The tournament was an obvious enticement for Carter-Vickers to sign a four-year deal this summer with the Scottish champions, following a superb season on loan from Tottenham Hotspur. Yet, the £6million deal – potentially rising to £10m with adds-on – doesn’t seem to have been contingent on the certainty of Champions League, the 24-year-old suggests. The negotiations over a permanent deal may have appeared to spread over many months, but the player seems to have had his heart set on putting down roots with Ange Postecoglou’s men following years of operating on temporary deals away from Spurs a long time ago.

“It was a little bit of a waiting game. But come the end of the season, I knew what I wanted to do,” he said. “Sometimes these things can take time. So I had to wait for everything to go through. I just wanted to sign, really. I was always fairly confident it would happen but you can never be too sure – that’s when these things can shock you. It was hard waiting to see how it went. The main thing for me has been the people. The coaching staff, the players and even the people around the training ground. I feel like it’s a very welcoming club and I’ve felt that since the moment I arrived here. When I got here, this felt different to other loan moves I’ve had. You quickly realise that the demands placed on you at a big club like Celtic are different.

“Having to try and win every game is the minimum standard. That’s the first thing you notice. My experience last year was all positive so it wasn’t too hard a decision for me. We’ve also got a very good manager here, who demands a lot from his players. I enjoy that, I think all the players do. He’s also a great guy, it’s a privilege to work for him.”