6 SPFL Premiership transfer near misses as Declan Rice's Celtic sliding doors moment sparks Scottish what ifs

Eyebrows will have been raised when Brendan Rodgers admitted he was close to signing Declan Rice.

The Celtic boss had been tracking the then West Ham youngster during his first spell in charge. A move was close, but injuries in midfield meant the London club held on to the midfielder, he burst on to the scene and made a £105million move to Arsenal last summer. For Hoops fans it's a case of what could have been as they watch Rice do his thing at the highest of levels.

Of course, Rice wasn't the established Premier League regular and England international he is now. Scottish Premiership clubs simply can't afford to fish in such waters, and have to identify the big catches while they are still relative minnows. The problem is, plenty either wriggle off the hook due to no fault of the clubs, or they don't realise what they've landed and are thrown back for someone else to net. It's happened plenty with players who are now household names

Alternatively, a big name is past their best but still more than good enough to play here, and are offered the chance of trophies and a decent wage, usually by Celtic or Rangers.. Record Sport looks at X near misses.

In the late 90s, R9 was the hottest property in word football. Bobby Robson unearthed him for PSV from Cruzeiro and before long, his pace, power and goals had made Barcelona sit up and take notice, taking him to Catalonia in 1996.

Over the course of his only full season at Camp Nou, O Phenomeno hit an incredible 47 goals in 49 games. Normally, he'd have been out of anyone's reach and Barca were convinced they had him "for life" as contract negotiations progressed. The following day however, talks broke down and a shock departure was on the cards.

It's important to remember that