With eight goals and three assists in 26 games for Celtic, many fans out there will remember who Nadir Çiftçi is, even if it was before Brendan Rodgers’ first and second spells at the club.
The now 31-year-old Turkish striker plays for Karaman FK in his home country’s second division, transferring there from Iskenderunspor this summer on a free.
The player gave a long interview to Soccer News on Wednesday, where he recalls his time at Celtic, which started back in 2015 when he signed from Dundee United for €2.1m.
His time there didn’t last long, however, as less than a year later, he was sent on loan to Eskisehirspor, which started a series of three other loans after that, to Pogon Szczecin, Plymouth and Motherwell.
He eventually left Celtic in 2018 on a free to Genclerbirligi and has mostly stayed in Turkey barring two spells at St Johnstone and then Makedonikos in Greece.
He said: “After two goal-scoring seasons, I got a great offer from Qatar, but I wanted to stay in Scotland and chose Celtic. There was one problem, because in my last game for Dundee, I got a six game ban for a stupid foul. As a result, I was unable to play any league games for the first month and a half. The striker who took my place, Leigh Griffiths, played great in the meantime. I ended up second and had trouble with my role.
“The manager gave me little attention and I didn’t have the patience to wait. During the winter break, I asked if I could be loaned out. I finished the season at Eskisehirspor, which went well. Brendan Rodgers the became Celtic manager the next season. He used me during pre-season and the Champions League qualifying rounds, but I wondered how many chances I would actually get.”
That was quickly answered when the now once again Celtic manager didn’t pick him for six months, which led to his stint in Poland, and after three years, he decided to ‘terminate his contract’ to then try something else.
