Benjamin Nygren has revealed he could have become Celtic’s next big-money departure after admitting there was interest in signing him during the summer.
Celtic waved goodbye to some major stars during the transfer window, with Daizen Maeda, Arne Engels and Reo Hatate all moving on.
There were also plenty of rumours surrounding Nygren, despite the attacker only arriving at Parkhead last summer.
The Sweden international enjoyed an excellent start to the new campaign and has now registered five goals and six assists in nine games.
After losing the goals and assists of Maeda and Engels, Celtic could ill afford to lose Nygren as well, particularly given his 30 goal contributions last season.
His performances at the World Cup did not quite reach the levels he would have hoped for, potentially limiting the interest in his services, but speculation around his future continued throughout the summer.
Nygren has now confirmed there was genuine interest in taking him away from Parkhead, although nothing progressed beyond that stage.
The 25-year-old has ambitions of playing at the highest level possible in the future, but insisted he was happy to remain with Celtic and wanted to continue his development in Glasgow.
“Yeah, there was interest. Did it get more than interest? No, I play for a big club,” Nygren said to RecordSport.
“When the right time is, I cannot answer that. That’s up to me and the club and the potential club. So, whenever the right time is, it is.
“Like I said, I play for a huge club like Celtic. I really enjoy being here. I wanted to stay here to play in the biggest competition.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the Champions League, but we still play in the Europa League.
“I want to make it better here and then go further in the Europa League, what we did last season.
“I wanted to stay here and continue to make it good. When the right time is, the right time is.
“But it’s not something I think of. It’s not my focus. My focus is just to do it as well as possible here and to win more trophies here.
“And then what happens in the future, we’ll see.”
Nygren’s decision to remain at Celtic has already proved a major boost for Martin O’Neill, with the Swede emerging as one of the Hoops’ most productive attacking players this season. He’s clearly thriving with some quality around him in the attacking third.
With Maeda and Hatate both gone and Engels also having departed for West Ham, Celtic needed Nygren to continue delivering in the final third. So far, he has done exactly that.
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