Celtic fans have learned that the Parkhead club had the chance to sign Man United legend Michael Carrick for £2m.
Peter Grant has told how he ‘phoned Celtic’ to tell the Parkhead club to sign Carrick just before he made his £3.5m move to Tottenham Hotspur.
After just two seasons at Spurs, Man United signed Carrick for a deal worth up to £18.5m where he then went on to become a legend at the club.
£2m for Michael Carrick was the bargain of the century!
Why did Celtic not take him? Would you have had Carrick at Celtic?
Manchester United's Michael Carrick in action against Celtic in the Champions League.
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Carrick won the Champions League, five Premier League titles, a World Club Cup Championship plus a plethora of other medals during his 12 years at Old Trafford.
And now, Grant shares how he tried to tell Celtic to get their hands on Carrick when West Ham were looking to offload players after their relegation from the Premier League in 2003.
Celtic v Manchester United - UEFA Champions League
Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Celtic missed out on Man United legend Michael Carrick for £2m
Carrick played over 300 games for Man United and was capped 34 times for England during his glittering career.
But it could have been so very different had Celtic listened to Grant 23 years ago and invested the seven-figure sum in the midfield enforcer.
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Grant told The Go Radio Football Show, “No, well, to be fair, Michael, I coached Michael at West Ham. Michael was one of the best players I’d seen, honestly,
“But at West Ham, for £2 million, Tottenham are arguing over £2 million. I was phoning Celtic at the time saying, ‘Take this boy’.
“And I remember saying, he’s the best. And £2 million was a lot of money then.”
Celtic didn’t ‘knock back’ Michael Carrick for £2m
So why did Celtic not take up Grant’s advice? Did the club reject the chance to sign one of the best midfielders in the world at that time for £2m?
Not according to Grant.
“He was an unbelievable trainer,” the Celtic hero continued, “A fantastic boy, a wonderful, wonderful player.
“No, they [Celtic] didn’t know much about him. No, it wasn’t the fact they knocked it back. £2 million for Celtic even then was a hell of a lot of money.
“But he was an outstanding player. And then Tottenham came in, £2 million, then he went to Manchester United, I think it was £11 million or something like that.
“But a wonderful, wonderful player. So I’m absolutely delighted for him, but a great football brain.”
It was an £18.5m deal that took Carrick to Man United and it appears that Celtic should be kicking themselves for missing out.
Considering when you look at the kind of money Martin O’Neill was spending on the likes of John Hartson and Chris Sutton, £2m was nothing to Celtic back then.
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