“What can I say about Celtic? It’s one true love,” Josip Juranovic

Josip Juranovic wanted to play in one of the top five leagues and with various options in England in the January transfer window, believed to be Chelsea and Manchester United, the Croatian opted instead to sign for Bundesliga high-flyers Union Berlin because he was going there as the first choice right-back rather than as a squad player or back-up for another player.

That would have impacted on his situation with the Croatian national side and Jurnaovic had been talking that into account throughout his deliberations on his future in what has been a remarkable season for the player who as a Celtic player played in Champions League for the first time, then starred in the World Cup winning a bronze medal in Qatar and earning a place in the Team of the Tournament before sealing his move to Union Berlin, where he has certainly hit the ground running.

At 27, Jura is at the peak of his powers as a footballer and perhaps has taken longer than expected to move through the gears in terms of his own career development. That though seemed to change when he moved to Poland to play for Legia Warsaw before earning a move to Celtic and after another short but sweet stay in Glasgow moved on to sign for a Top Five league club and after his World Cup exploits he was a man in demand and he will be earning top money in Berlin.

Fair play to him, yet there seems to some regret in his decision to leave Celtic with the events at Hampden at the weekend perhaps triggering those emotions. Josip, speaking to Football Scotland, clearly has regrets about what he’s missing at Celtic and perhaps surprising suggests that he’s disappointed that Celtic didn’t do more to keep him.

Both Juranovic and Giorgos Giakoumakis were players that everyone knew were likely to leave in the January transfer window and Ange Postecoglou has spoken often that he isn’t one to stand in the way of a player wanting a move or wanting to do what is best for himself and his family perhaps by getting a move to where the money is much higher.

Postecoglou instead was accommodating and the work was done to bring in a replacement right-back and striker and that was achieved with the arrival of Alistair Johnston and Oh with the two summer 2021 signings getting their moves.

We had Giakoumakis’ agent bad-mouthing Celtic, Scotland and anything else he could think of after his new contract offer from Celtic was rejected. Juranovic’s departure was classier but it was also probably the right thing for him personally after his success at the World Cup and it also probably suited Celtic to turn over their transfer investment and bring in another World Cup star with the profit.

That’s the business side of it but the football side is something different and it’s perfectly understandable that he’d have been watching the League Cup Final on Sunday with more than a tinge of regret.

Union Berlin are currently in a unique position of fighting Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund for the Bundesliga title yet the attraction of playing for Celtic remains strong for the Croatian star.

“I had a really good relationship with the fans. I really loved it. It was a tough time to move away, but that’s life,” Josip told Football Scotland. “I was a little bit sad Celtic didn’t try to keep me as a player there. But that is football. You can’t know your future.”

Jura states that he was surprised to hear of the signing of Canada’s right-back Alistair Johnston while he was still in Qatar but that’s hard to understand as his own transfer was widely discussed for many months – hadn’t transfer expect Fabrizio Romano – who agents brief to suit their own agenda – tweeted last summer about Juranovic leaving Celtic?

Ange knew he would be losing a few of his players in January and at the club’s AGM he spoke about being aggressive in the transfer market and warning fans that we’d be losing a few of our favourites. That heads up prepared The Celtic support who accepted both transfers without much fuss being made and welcomed the new Bhoys, with both playing their part in the League Cup Final win over theRangers. Alistair Johnston, in particular had a fine match at the weekend.

On hearing the news that Celtic had signed the Canadian, Juranovic has this to say: “To be honest I was a little bit surprised because I was playing in the World Cup and preparing for my next game. Some of my friends called me and said they’d signed a new full-back, what’s your opinion about that? I was just putting it to the side and concentrating on the World Cup, as it’s the biggest stage in football and I wanted to perform well.”

But it is clear that the reality that his time was up at Celtic hit home at hearing the news. “In my mind, I was thinking we would have three full-backs and someone will be on the bench and someone in the stands with their family. I knew I would maybe not play two games in a row and maybe play the third one.

“I didn’t like some of that stuff – because of the national team. If you are not playing regularly for your club, you won’t get called up for the national team. That’s the main reason why I left.”  Jura also revealed that he only heard about Union Berlin’s interest a few weeks before the transfer went through, amid speculation linking him with clubs in England, Spain and Italy.

“Maybe two weeks before the transfer was finalised, he said on when he knew the Bundesliga side wanted to sign him. “I didn’t think a lot about my situation because first I had the World Cup and I was concentrating fully on that. Then I was reading some news that I would be going to, I don’t know, Man United, Chelsea and so on. But we need to be realistic. This was the right move for me from my side.

“In my career, I haven’t ever jumped two steps ahead. I am always going one step then one step, upgrading my career. I want to play football and that is the main reason why I am here.”

Josip Juranovic holds no grudges against Celtic or indeed Ange Postecoglou, who he holds in the highest regard. “I spoke with Ange one week before I moved. We always had an honest conversation between us. He is a good coach – a really good coach. Try to keep him!” he urged Celtic.

“My 18 months there were unbelievable. What can I say about Celtic? It’s one true love.”

Josip was able to watch most of the first half of the cup final on Sunday before having to prepare for Union Berlin’s match with Bayern Munich.  “I watched maybe 35 minutes because I had a game against Bayern Munich here. In my heart, I knew that we – we! – would win the cup. I am still talking with my friends at Celtic. I wished them all luck and told them I would be watching them and that I was really happy that they won the first trophy, but not the last one this year.

“I am texting all the time with Joe Hart, Matt O’Reilly, Jota. Who else? Daizen, Abada. I have a lot of friends there and I will keep in touch with them through their life.”

Juranovic also had his say on the rather foolish statements coming out of Ibrox ahead of the cup final with Fashion Sakala – who missed a sitter on Sunday – being left with egg on his face after his “other mob” and ‘better team” trash talk, and the Croatian reckons his old teammates can go an and complete the treble by winning both the Scottish Premiership and the Scottish Cup.

On Celtic winning the Treble:  “I hope so, that means I can have more trophies in my back pocket. It’s nine points in front of, how Sakala said… ‘the other mob!’. The whole team is perfect.  Hatate is scoring and assisting. Oz is unbelievable… a baldy guy! Celtic are doing great and I am really happy to see that.”

And Juranovic reckons that he could be back at Celtic next season playing against the Hoops in the Champions   League, which always seems to happen when players leave Celtic. “I am fighting here for the Champions League. I was playing there at Celtic and I want to stay there. That’s the main reason why I moved here because it is a top-five league and we are third in the table now.

“We want to improve on that still. And I want to hear the music again soon. I like Celtic, I love the club and I had 18 beautiful months there. If the Champions League gave me a reason to go back to Celtic Park then I would really love that.”