He said no to Barcelona but Celtic was a huge draw for Albian Ajeti

Striker and his twin brother turned down Spanish giants aged 16

Celtic's new striker Albian Ajeti is unveiled at Parkhead after signing on a four-year deal. Picture: SNS Group.

The unshakeable confidence Albian Ajeti has in his abilities can perhaps be traced to a monumental decision he made in his mid-teens. And the unshakeable bond the new Celtic striker had then with his footballing twin Adonis Ajeti.

The pair’s promise in the Basel youth academy they joined as mere eight-year-olds resulted in the ultimate offer in their formative years.

“Barcelona wanted me and my twin brother when we were 16,” said the 23-year-old, who has been recruited by Celtic on a £5 million deal from West Ham.

“They were interested in signing the both of us. It wasn’t a trial but we went over for a couple of days and were shown around the Barcelona academy and trained with them. But in the end we decided to stay in Switzerland at the Basel academy.

“People say it’s hard to say no to Barcelona but not at that age, to be fair. When you are young you want to be with your family, with your brothers and friends, so it wasn’t that hard to say no.

“My brother was keen to do it but in the end we decided to keep going with what we were doing in Switzerland. It worked out well for us.”

The desire to remain among family and friends would no doubt have been strong because of the upheaval endured by the parents of the twins, and older brother Arlind Ajeti. The 26-year-old is currently with Danish club Vejle, while Adonis plays for Swiss side St Gallen.

Their mother and father left their native Kosovo for Switzerland in the early 1990s. Genocidal conflicts in both neighbouring Bosnia & Herzegovina and Croatia that followed the fragmentation of old Yugoslavia led to repressions of Kosovar Albanians, and in turn precipitated a war in the previously autonomous region at the end of that decade.

The Celtic forward’s Albanian roots – he and his brothers spoke only to their parents in the language while growing up – resulted in his latest move proving the source of a political pronouncement of an altogether more emollient nature.

Albanian president Ilir Meta – a Celtic nut after being turned on to the club by former player and countryman Rudi Vata – was quick off the mark in tweeting his congratulations to Ajeti.

“Celtic is known all around the world, but especially from where I come from originally,” the striker said. “People from Kosovo Albania really support Celtic so I have known about Celtic since I was a small boy. They have a fanbase there [as can be seen with ] the president of Albania being a huge fan, so we actually grew up knowing about the club.”

The player will look to get his career moving forward again after it firmly stalled in a fruitless season with West Ham.

Recruited from Basel for £8m after netting 43 goals and contributing 21 assists in 96 appearances, he was given no impression to replicate such stats.

Arriving with Manuel Pellegrini at the helm, when he gave way to David Moyes months later, Ajeti had a largely spectating role in London. In all he made only three starts – only one in the Premier League – and nine, largely brief, substitute appearances. Yet, the Swiss international appears to have few regrets.

“It was a good experience. I would say this was a year of learning, of improving mentally,” he said. “I didn’t play as much as I expected so it was a year of learning. It is not always easy to sign for a football club when there are changes like we had last year at West Ham. But it is how it is and I am happy to be at Celtic.

“It’s hard to say [if it would have helped me if Pellegrini stayed] because you don’t know what could have happened. I just think the work I did there was good, but every manager has a different system of football and you have to understand it because not everyone is the same. It is always hard for a new manager to get the best out of the team. This is football.”

In Neil Lennon, who successfully sold Celtic to him in a personal phone call, he now believes he has a manager who will get the best out of him. And he believes it worked out for the best that the initial pursuit of a loan deal gave way to him joining permanently.

“For me it was important that the boss Neil Lennon and the sporting director Nick Hammond showed me a lot of interest. It was also important for me to feel like I would be an important player if I was going to sign for as big a club as Celtic is. This was important. [As was] a chance to play for them, with all the tradition they have and the history of this football club and the fans they have.

“The type of deal was between the clubs, not just me. But I am more than happy that I have signed for four years. I want to be at a club like this for that time. I want to share all the great moments with the top fans we have here, and the top players. That is why I came to Celtic and I want to be here for a very long time.”

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