'The time was right' - Larsson on decision to leave Celtic

4 days ago 1

Celtic icon Henrik Larsson says "the time was right" when he left the club in 2004 to join Barcelona on a free transfer.

The Swede will always be revered at Celtic where scored 242 goals in 315 appearances, winning four league titles, two Scottish Cups and two League Cups.

Having snubbed a move to Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in 1999, Larsson ended his seven-year Celtic spell at age 32 after winning the double in his final season.

"I stayed seven years in Scotland with Celtic" he told The Overlap podcast.

"I felt, I stayed there for seven years it was time because if you don't score in two games, 'it's not the same old Larsson any more'.

"I had a meeting with the gaffer [Martin O'Neill] because I decided already in the summer that I would run the year out, but I would tell everybody.

"I told the gaffer and I told the fans. He [O'Neill] was okay because I said 'I just want to get out when I'm still ahead' and he said 'Yeah that's fair enough'.

"To be fair, he was always nice to me, always good, but I was good to him as well.

"I wanted to get as good as possible an ending. I told the supporters early as well 'I will not extend my contract, I will go after the season.'

"I tried to do that to be transparent and so nobody was kept in the dark. The time was right."

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