Mario Vuskovic has spoken about the draw of Hamburg after Celtic opted against signing the Croatian defender. The defender joined Bundesliga 2 side, Hamburg, on a loan deal from Hadjuk Split in the final days of the window and now The Record is running the story that this was a snub on the part of Vuskovic against Celtic. Ange Postecoglou’s side pursued other targets and the youngster was forced to pursue other avenues himself – in the form of a two-year loan deal worth £2m and an option to buy at the end.
Speaking to Bild, as per The Record, Vuskovic cites two former Croatian stars as being the reason that he made the move to the German second division despite interest from Feyenoord and Torino, maybe Hamburg were the only side that made a concrete offer.
“It’s a big club. Mladen Petric and Ivica Olic played here, they are legends in my homeland. My father had spoken to Ivica. And he raved about HSV.”
Vuskovic was part of the Croatia side that knocked out England in the U21s Euros group stages and is likely to attract interest from clubs around Europe, with Serie A side Torino said to have been extremely keen on launching a bid for the talented centre-back. A confident, ball playing defender, Vuskovic would have certainly suited Celtic’s style of play. However, the club opted to move for Carl Starfelt and Cameron Carter-Vickers instead of Vuskovic and if the sums suggested are to be believed, this is because their €4m asking price was unrealistic.
Celtic signed Starfelt as the Kris Ajer replacing with USA Internationalist CCV acting as cover across the backline until Christopher Jullien returns to fitness in the coming weeks. Celtic have spent £4.2m on two Internationalists that will improve the defence (and have an option to buy CCV).
