Former Manchester United star John O’Shea has disclosed that he was close to joining Celtic before he made his move to Old Trafford.

The former Republic of Ireland international, who won the Champions League with Manchester United in 2008, made the revelation in an interview with World Football Index.

I was very close to joining Celtic. Many of my friends over the years have joined Celtic and played for the club and I thought I was heading there. Celtic still crosses my mind to this day and I often think about how different my career and my life could have been should I have gone there.

O’Shea joined Manchester United as a youth player, and spent over a decade at Old Trafford, winning 14 trophies in 12 seasons.

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Had he joined Celtic, O’Shea would have been an excellent player for the club. You can see how good a player he was for Manchester United when you consider that he was a regular member of the squad in one of their greatest ever eras under Sir Alex Ferguson.

What is interesting is that O’Shea would have been at Celtic during the Martin O’Neill years if he had joined the Hoops. Those years were vital to Celtic as they laid the foundation for the incredible success that the Bhoys have been enjoying over the last 20 plus years.

O’Shea would have fit into O’Neill’s squad well, as he was a utility player capable of playing in more than a few positions, but was mostly used in defence or as a defensive midfielder.

Celtic had some excellent players in those positions in the O’Neill years and beyond, and O’Shea might well have added to that list of players had he joined the Hoops instead of Manchester United.

It is interesting that the player still thinks about what could have happened if he had joined Celtic, but it has to be said that his move to Old Trafford did work out well for the player.

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He likely wouldn’t have had the European success he enjoyed at Manchester United at Celtic Park, as even though the Bhoys did reach the UEFA Cup Final under Martin O’Neill’s management, the team were unable to make a breakthrough to the last 16 of the Champions League until Gordon Strachan became manager.

Still, it is always intriguing to look at ‘what ifs’ in football, and John O’Shea joining Celtic is certainly one of those. Both parties did do well in the years after O’Shea joined Manchester United though, so you have to think that the player doesn’t regret not joining the Hoops.