The Vault: “It’s true. Didier could have become a Celtic player”

With the football season on lockdown like the rest of society, we’re taking the opportunity to take a look back at some of the weird and wonderful stories surrounding Celtic. From matches to signings and nearly signings.

We recall an interview with former Celtic player Momo Sylla, who back in 2012 opened up about a conversation he had with Didier Drogba. The pair were good mates when Sylla was at Celtic and Momo revealed Drogba was keen to join him at Parkhead.

Now we all know Didier Drogba went onto have a phenomenal career, however, it could’ve all been different if Sylla gave Didier the thumbs up back in 2002 when Martin O’Neill was in charge.

Sylla recalled Drogba being keen on a move but the former Hoops star warned him off a move to the club because he wouldn’t get a game!

When you think about that, many peoples minds would be blown BUT…Celtic’s strike force at the time consisted of Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and John Hartson.

Momo was probably right!

Sylla told SunSport back in 2012: “It’s true. Didier could have become a Celtic player”

“We are best friends. He is like a brother to me. The year after I signed for Celtic he was really interested. Didier said to me ‘Do you think I could join too?’.

“He was 24 and playing for Guingamp at that point, but he was still developing as a player.

“Didier would have joined Celtic for £10,000 per month back then. In fact, he would have signed for free.

“But I was honest with him. Celtic had Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and John Hartson — three world-class strikers, “I didn’t think Didier would get in the team and I told him that.

“We spoke about maybe trying to arrange a trial, but in the end we never did anything.

“Didier did well at Guingamp and he eventually signed for Marseille — the rest is history.”