It is always a telling sign that the size of Celtic Football Club still prevails when players reject flashier leagues to come to Glasgow – which is exactly what Osaze Urhoghide has done in his move from Sheffield Wednesday.
The 21-year-old finalised his move north of the border from South Yorkshire last week, just in time to join up with Ange Postecoglou’s side ahead of the forthcoming training camp in Wales.
It has been a whirlwind year for the Dutch-born defender; having been snapped up by AFC Wimbledon at the age of 15, hard work found Urhoghide plying his trade in The Championship last season, making 16 league appearances for the Owls in their troubled campaign, which led to relegation after a six point deduction.
Yet, despite the setbacks, Ange clearly found Osaze to be a player with bags of potential, snapping him up for a cut-price £200,000 – with Urhoghide rejecting moves from across Europe to join The Bhoys’.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Osaze said: “It was a hard decision to leave Sheffield Wednesday, it was disappointing last season to go down. I had to weigh up my options to see what would have been best for my career and I ended up choosing Celtic. I believe it’s going to be a good move with the culture of the club, the expectation, the manager coming in and with what he wants to do and helping develop the players so it’s a good fit for me.”
Quizzed about the other potential suitors he interested, Urhoghide said: “There were some teams there, the Premier League would have been nice but it’s also about playing and developing. It’s about the manager and the culture of the club, and it’s that environment that will help you develop and improve as a player. Celtic had all those options for me.”
Rumours suggested that Crystal Palace and Leeds were amongst those interested, alongside Champions League outfit Club Brugge; which, following Leeds’ impressive campaign under Marcelo Bielsa, shows the pulling power that Celtic still have.
“All the players are really good, supportive in training and with showing me around the place. It’s great to be here with the new manager, everyone from the team is back basically and it’s just good to get ready for the game tomorrow.”
