Lewis Ferguson’s agent has revealed Celtic previously passed up the chance to sign the Scotland midfielder during his Aberdeen days for a reason many supporters will struggle to believe.

Ferguson developed into one of the Premiership’s best midfielders at Pittodrie before moving to Bologna in 2022. By that stage, he was already captaining Aberdeen, scoring goals from midfield and becoming one of the league’s most reliable penalty takers.


That last part makes the story even stranger.

At Aberdeen, Ferguson scored penalties consistently under pressure. Some were decisive goals in big matches. Others came during periods where Aberdeen relied heavily on him to drag the team through difficult spells.

There was always another obvious complication around any potential Celtic move, though.

Ferguson comes from a well-known Rangers family. His father Derek Ferguson and uncle Barry Ferguson are both heavily associated with Ibrox, while Lewis himself supported Rangers growing up and spent time in their academy before leaving earlier in his development.

Even so, according to his agent Bill McMurdo, Ferguson would still have considered a move to Celtic professionally if the opportunity had developed further.

Now playing in Serie A, Ferguson has gone on to captain Bologna at times and helped establish himself as a regular Scotland international. Looking back now, it feels obvious he had the level to play for Celtic.

According to McMurdo, the midfielder was actually discussed internally at Parkhead more than once while still at Aberdeen. He claims Tosh McKinlay pushed Ferguson’s name forward, but Celtic decided not to move any further.

McMurdo spoke openly about the situation while discussing Ferguson’s career path.

He said: (Daily Record), “I think he’d have considered it, as a professional. He always wants to develop his career and I think he could have developed his career at Celtic given the opportunity.

“I was told on good authority that Tosh McKinlay had put him forward to Celtic on a couple of occasions and they refused to take it any further.

“The reason that they gave for not pursuing it was that somebody, in their wisdom, said he’s not very good a penalties. I find that funny, even today.

“That was when he was at Aberdeen. It’s absolute fact.”

Ferguson was one of the calmest spot-kick takers in Scotland during his Aberdeen spell. His technique rarely changed and he handled pressure well for a relatively young player carrying major responsibility in that side.

Celtic’s midfield has changed countless times since then.

Different managers have arrived, systems have shifted and recruitment priorities have moved elsewhere. Meanwhile, Ferguson has continued climbing steadily in Italy rather than plateauing after leaving Scotland.


At this stage, any realistic chance of Celtic signing him feels long gone.

His level, wages and standing in Serie A now place him in a completely different market from the player Aberdeen were trying to sell a few years ago.