We all know how things unfolded for Celtic last season, with 10IAR up for grabs. The Hoops had the chance to make history but instead, the campaign went down as one of the most disappointing in the club’s history. They finished 25 points behind the Rangers in the Premiership and on top of that, they did not win any other silverware either. It resulted in Neil Lennon’s exit and major squad overhaul in the summer.

In hindsight, things had started to go wrong for Celtic in the summer itself. The first big blow that they were handed was when they failed to bring back from Fraser Forster from Southampton.

It certainly ended up having a massive impact on their campaign, as all the goalkeepers that Celtic had last season, struggled to hold down their place in the starting XI.

Now, Dermot Desmond has revealed that the club had a deal in place to bring back Forster in the summer of 2020, before the Englishman ended up changing his mind at the last minute. As reported by The Scotsman, he told Celtic TV:

“The first thing we wanted to do was retain all our squad to win ten [titles] in a row.

“That we did, we wanted to retain the players we had on-loan, [Mohamed] Elyounoussi and [Fraser] Forster from Southampton.

“We’d reached terms with Southampton that both could come. Both players wanted to come and those deals were being consummated.

“Unfortunately, at the last minute, Fraser Forster decided to stay at Southampton.

“But in the interim, we’d let Craig Gordon go. That was the start of a little bit of challenges we faced from the previous year.”

Forster turned down Celtic return at the last minute

Forster had spent the 2019/20 campaign on loan at Celtic and had been brilliant. Fans will remember his incredible performance in the Scottish League Cup final win against the Rangers.

Thus, him not returning for the 10IAR campaign was a massive blow indeed. The club ended up signing Vasilis Barkas from AEK Athens as his replacement in a £4.5 million transfer move.

We all know how that has turned out though. Barkas has struggled throughout his time at Parkhead and at the moment, is not even the second-choice goalkeeper in the squad. Thus, the Greek goalkeeper is expected to depart in the upcoming summer transfer window if things go to plan. Let’s see what the future holds.

This article was originally posted here