Celtic icon Emilio Izaguirre has revealed how it was during his time at Celtic Park that he decided he didn’t want to be a coach when his playing days came to an end, thanks in part to now Arsenal star Kieran Tierney.
Izaguirre spent eight years at Celtic over two spells, first joining the Scottish champions from FC Motagua in August 2010 and staying for seven years before a move to Al-Fayha.
He return to Celtic in August 2018 but only stayed with the Bhoys for another year before returning to his former club Motagua.
He left them for Marathón in January 2021 but has since returned to his first club for a third spell, albeit this time off of the pitch.
Following his retirement, he’s taken up the sporting director role at the club, where he will dictate transfers and help to develop youngsters.
That’s an unusual route for players to take straight after retirement but for Izaguirre it seems the idea was planted early on courtesy of an experience during his first spell at Celtic, when he was asked to work with Kieran Tierney, now at Arsenal.
“I was passionate about that (the sporting director role),” he told Diez, hours before his unveiling at Motagua.
“And I also remember that at Celtic in 2015 they gave me three boys to train like me, to eat what I ate.
“That’s when I realised that I wasn’t meant to be a coach, I wasn’t meant to be managing, I was meant for something bigger.
“In two years, I trained Kieran Tierney, who was sold for $50m to Arsenal. That’s how my desire to prepare athletes and have the structure, not only of one, but of many to take abroad, to sign good players for the team, grew.
“In each area I was specialising and becoming more and more passionate.
“I was always dedicated to being very professional when I was a footballer, so they would ask me for advice, they would listen, and they would do it. I would like to do that with a lot of young people in Honduras.”
Following his move to Arsenal, Tierney has made 102 appearances for the Gunners, scoring four goals and assisting another 13.
