£2.5m fee agreed, then snatched away: Celtic had Old Firm blinder on "unplayable" ace - opinion

Celtic are not far away from snatching the SPFL title away from their Old Firm rivals this season.

In Ange Postecoglou’s debut season in charge of the Hoops, the Parkhead club are currently six points clear of their Glasgow enemies with 35 games played.

This wouldn’t be the first time the Bhoys have taken something away from their neighbours.

Looking back to 2008, the Gers had reportedly agreed a fee of £2.5m with Premier League club Manchester City to sign striker Georgios Samaras.

However, it was the Hoops that ended up securing the Greece international’s signature in the January transfer window as he made the move to Celtic Park on loan before signing permanently in the following summer.

During his time with the Bhoys, the centre-forward made 243 appearances for Celtic across all competitions with his record for the club being celebrated by Neil Lennon who dubbed him “unplayable.”

In those appearances, the striker found the net 71 times in total and delivered 49 assists along the way, equalling 120 goal contributions.

To highlight how much of an attacking threat he was for the team, he managed to rack up 163 shots on target during his time in a Celtic shirt.

To further rub salt in Rangers’ wounds, in the 22 games he played against the Ibrox side, Samaras scored three goals and provided five assists.

In the 2014 summer transfer window, the striker called an end to his time in Scotland and made a move back to England, this time to West Bromwich Albion.

The attacker left Parkhead with four league titles, two Scottish Cups and one Scottish League Cup, making Celtic the only club he played for where he won silverware.

After spells in America, Spain and Turkey, the former Hoops star retired in 2018 with a total of 118 goals