Gustav Isaksen reveals why Celtic transfer was a non starter as Dane swerves 'boring' switch

Gustav Isaksen has admitted that a move to Celtic was never on the cards after learning the Lazio ropes for a year.

The Danish winger was heavily linked with the Hoops in the final week of the transfer window, with reports in Rome claiming that they were in for the £12million valued winger. In the end, the Premiership champions chose to focus on strengthening in the middle of the park and in defence, signing Auston Trusty, Arne Engels and Luke McCowan on deadline day.

But any official approach for Isaksen was likely to get the short shrift in any case. He was determined to remain in the Eternal City, instructing his agent to reject any offers, even if they were "exciting." Now more established at the Stadio Olimpico under new boss Marco Baroni, the 23-year-old wasn't prepared to throw a year of learning down the drain, as starting again at another club would make it "boring."

"It would be boring to have spent a whole year getting to know everything in Lazio to go somewhere new and then have to learn it all again," he told tvmidtvest. "So I told my agent that even if something exciting comes along, I would like to stay with 99 percent certainty. I feel that I have the potential to become an important man down there.

"I had a bit of a hard time with the coach who was there before. We didn't quite find each other, and I wasn't quite the player he wanted. I think I did well, so it was a bit frustrating. After a new coach came in, it feels calmer. It seems that there are longer prospects with the coach we have now."