On This Day in 1997, Celtic signed Henrik Larsson from Feyenoord in a deal worth £650k. The Swedish striker followed Wim Jansen to Celtic ahead of a huge season where they sought to stop Rangers from winning 10IAR. It is fair to say that Larsson’s impact at the club transcended that first, memorable season.
25th July 1997, Henrik Larsson signed for Celtic.
The King of Kings. 👑 pic.twitter.com/1zqxj6Lhc6
— Li’l Ze (@LilZe_7) July 24, 2023
In his time at Celtic, Larsson scored 242 goals going from stopping the ten in 1998 before bowing out as a Scottish Champion. They don’t make many like Henrik these days. Despite his stature, he could jump well above central defenders and a nip of pace to take him beyond many a defender. The quality that he had in front of goal speaks for itself given the sheer amount of goals that he scored.
Despite the riches that a player of his class could have demanded south of the border, Larsson stayed loyal to Celtic as he and his family were settled. He proved that he was different class in his final match for Barcelona in 2006, when he came on as a substitute in Paris during the Champions League final and got two assists as Barca came from behind to beat Arsenal.
