Jack Hendry rejected moves to England for Celtic
The defender joined Dundee from Wigan, but decided to stay north of the border
Jack Hendry says he turned down the opportunity to move back to England in favour of a switch to Celtic in the January transfer window.
The defender was involved in a merry-go-round of deals between Celtic, Dundee and Hibernian late on transfer deadline day. It saw him move to the Parkhead club along with Scott Bain, while Scott Allan joined Hibs and Simon Murray moved to Dundee.
Hendry's future was heavily speculated on throughout January with persistent rumours, however he's now revealed that as soon as he found out about Celtic's interest there was only one place he was going to end up.
"There was a lot of interest from down south,'' he told Celtic TV. But there was only one place I wanted to come and that was Celtic.
"The coaching staff, squad, facilities and fan base, it ticks all the boxes for me personally.
"I want to strive in this kind of environment. I see myself as a winner, and there's a winning mentality here so that's something I want to be part of.
"I feel that suits me well.''
Part of the attraction of choosing Celtic - as well as returning to the club he left as a youngster - was the prospect of playing European football, with the Hoops still in the latter stages of the Europa League having played in the Champions League earlier this season.
And Hendry is excited about challenging himself on that stage.
He said: "That's where you want to play, and why I came here to play on those stages.
"If I fulfil my ability that's certainly somewhere that I will look to play, and that's one of the reasons I came to play here.''
It has been a long and less than straightforward road for Hendry, who at the age of 22 had just 56 first-team appearances to his name before making his Celtic bow in the defeat to Kilmarnock, but he feels he has learnt from a tough spell in England which saw him struggle for regular games in spells at Wigan, Shrewsbury and MK Dons.
"I felt I learnt a lot from that period,'' he said. "At times it wasn't the most enjoyable but you learn a lot from those times and I felt that I became a better person on the pitch and off it.
"It seemed a good move at the time, didn't pan out for whatever reason, but I'm just looking forward now and I've ended up here and it probably couldn't have gone any better.'