If things had turned out differently, Leigh Griffiths could have been rubbing shoulders with Hernan Crespo, Christian Panucci and Valeri Bojinov in Serie A as a teenager.

The Celtic striker had the opportunity to join Serie A side Parma when still a teenager, a move which would have seen him go from a couple of hundred pounds a week at Livingston to €10,000-a-week in Emilia-Romagna.

Griffiths revealed to Si Ferry on Open Goal that he, alongside former team-mates Andy Halliday and Joe McKee were sent to Italy to train with Parma.

Leigh Griffiths had the opportunity to move to Parma when a teenager. Picture: SNS

It was at a time when Livingston were run by Angelo Massone, who “drove the West Lothian club to the brink of extinction in 2009”.

While Griffiths impressed Parma, the player himself was far from impressed with what he witnessed.

“Me, Andy Halliday and a boy Joe McKee, [Livingston] sent us over to Parma for a week,” he said.

“Training with the reserves, a bounce game, I had scored three. We came back and they said we want to sell you to Parma, you’re going to be on €10,000-a-week.

“The three of us couldn’t do anything. Went to training, came back and that was us, stuck in our room, stuck on our phones, 17, 18-year-old. So boring.

“I didn’t care how much money I’m being offered here, I’m not going. I ended up signing for Dundee that summer.”

Celtic ace Leigh Griffiths turned down €10k-a-week Serie A - Hernan Crespo would have been a team-mate