Kasper Schmeichel reveals long-term Celtic desire
The Denmark captain has been signed as Celtic's new number one
Kasper Schmeichel revealed a long affinity about Celtic as he prepared to start the season as the new Hoops goalkeeper.
The 37-year-old Denmark number one signed a one-year deal with Brendan Rodgers' side last month as replacement for retiring Joe Hart and joined the Parkhead club on their tour of the USA.
Schmeichel started his career at Manchester City and had a loan spell at the Premiership side Falkirk on loan from January 2007 until the end of the 2006–07 season, during which time he helped the Bairns to a 1-0 win over Celtic, saving a Craig Beattie penalty in the process.
Speaking to the media at Celtic Park ahead of the curtain raiser against Kilmarnock on Sunday, he spoke about joining the Scottish champions and said: "There was always something with Celtic for some reason.
"Very recently we had Thomas Gravesen and Morten Wieghorst (former Denmark internationals) playing here.
"It is just a club that always appealed to me in some kind of way.
"And particularly these last few years with Joe coming here I followed it a lot closer than I ever did and having played here as a youngster you get a real impression.
"You could see back then it wasn't Falkirk getting headlines it was Celtic so you knew what the club was and the size of the club."
Schmeichel worked under Rodgers at Leicester City where they won the FA Cup in 2021 and he described those days with the Northern Irishman as his happiest in football.
He said: "I look back at my career and the times I was probably at my best and happiest as a footballer was under Brendan at Leicester.
"It was certainly the time I enjoyed football the most so I have a lot of positive memories.
"So the chance to work with him again is obviously a big thing.
"Through the years, there has been a lot of different people coming along at different times when you have needed them.
"There has been coaches like John Hughes who gave me the chance in the top league, Sven Goran Eriksson gave me my Premier League debut, Nigel Pearson gave me the confidence to think I could be a Premier League goalkeeper for a long time and obviously Brendan coming in helped to elevate me and made me believe.
"We got to an FA Cup final and won it which had never been done in Leicester's history.
"You meet these people along the way and Brendan is a really important person in my life."
While looking forward to playing with Celtic, Schmeichel recalled his time at Falkirk with fondness.
He said: "The most important thing for any young player was game time.
"I had a taste of it in League Two in England and for a Premiership club to give me that level of responsibility was really big thing, a massive learning curve for me.
"The profile it gave me was important. My first TV game was in Scottish football, It was the first time the audience back in Denmark had the chance to see me live having never played there.
"We lost 1-0 to Rangers at Ibrox I think and I played against Celtic which was on TV as well so those were the games shown
"I look back on that very fondly."
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