the time celtic scouted a brazilian wonderkid and came back with scheidt

We all remember the day this Brazilian powerhouse was paraded at Celtic Park with the scarf above his head and the smiles when he was donning the Hoops on the photo shoot.

One of the signings from the ill fated John Barnes era, Scheidt was a phenomenon. Not with his footballing ability, but the fact Gremio managed to syphon £5m out of Celtic for a player that couldn’t tackle a fish supper never mind Scottish footballs top strikers.

Speaking on his A Celtic State of Mind podcast, host Paul John Dykes recalled the timeline of the move and revealed that Celtic were actually on the trail of a little known Brazilian called Ronaldinho when somehow, Scheidt caught the eye of the then scouting team, “Celtic sent some people on a scouting mission over to Brazil to watch Gremio in the late 90’s.

And at that time there was a young Ronaldinho tearing it up, and we brought home, Raphael Scheidt for 5 million quid. So we could have got Ronaldinho”

This is the first time I’d ever heard this story and it truly is amazing to think of what could have been. Hopefully the new manager will bring in a scouting team worthy of the Hoops and we don’t end up with more Scheidt in the squad.

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