'I went up to Celtic': 54-cap international star lifts lid on failed Parkhead transfer
The former Barcelona and Liverpool star spent a week on trial with Celtic.
Former Barcelona midfielder Bolo Zenden has revealed how close he came to signing for Celtic after spending time on trial at Parkhead - and why the move didn’t materialise.
A title winner with both PSV Eindhoven and Barcelona, Zenden earned 54 caps for the Netherlands during his illustrious career that also saw him reach the Champions League final with Liverpool in 2007, while he also won trophies with Chelsea and Middlesbrough, before he retired in 2012 after a two-year stint with Sunderland.
With a strong Dutch contingent already in the Hoops squad at the time, the Maastricht-born midfielder was offered a chance to earn a move to Celtic in the midst of the 2011/2012 campaign, spending a week on trial at Lennoxtown during Neil Lennon’s first spell as the club’s manager, with the manager running the rule over the then 35-year-old star.
“When I was a free agent, I went up to Celtic,” said Zenden. “I had a spell where I trained with them and even played in a friendly game. This was a long time ago. Glenn Loovens was there, and I believe Virgil van Dijk was also there at the time. Did it come close? In a way, it did. I stayed from Monday to Friday, went back home for the weekend, and was normally going to report back on the Monday.”
However, the veteran midfielder says Celtic opted against offering him a deal that October, with the club going on to sign little-remembered Nigerian international midfielder Ibrahim Rabiu from Zenden’s former club PSV Eindhoven the following January instead. Lennon’s side would go on to win the Scottish Premiership that season, finishing top of the league on 93 points, while Zenden retired shortly afterwards after deciding to hang up his boots following a long and successful career.
“It was in October, and they decided not to sign anyone outside of the transfer window,” Zenden told football betting site BetVictor. “They preferred to wait until the January transfer window. I was a free agent, so they could have signed me in between. So did it get close? No. I think in the end, in football, you're only close when you have a pen in your hand to sign the papers. I believe, and I'm sure, that in football there are many more deals that don't go through than the ones that fall through. Many more.”
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