Jeremie Frimpong admits he got cold feet before joining Celtic but will never forget his 'father and son' bond with Neil Lennon.
The former Manchester City star was signed in a coup deal for Celtic for just £350,000 in September 2019 from the Etihad, as he penned a four-year contract but would only end up spending 18 months in Glasgow. Frimpong was immensely popular during his time at Parkhead and left with a Treble under ex-boss Lennon. Bayer Leverkusen soon swooped in and offered the Scottish champions a handsome £12million for the defender's services.
Now the Dutchman could be heading to giants Manchester United or Real Madrid in the summer with a hefty price tag of £35million plus being set as the bar by the Bundesliga side for bidding. That could land Brendan Rodgers new side up to £6m should the 22-year-old go for a fee more than £40m.
The youngster lifted the lid on the manic few hours that led to his Parkhead arrival, but he concedes at one point he wanted to back out of the move to Scotland. Yet the defender was given sage advice by his brother that sparked his interest again.
Speaking to the Rising Ballers podcast, he said: "It was just a normal day. Just going into training and I am going on my phone and seeing links to Celtic. Jeremie this, Jeremie that. So I am like 'Yo, things are getting real.' My team-mates were asking why I wasn't going to training. Afterwards they came in and said 'Jeremie is it true you are leaving? We are like brothers.
"I packed to go to Celtic and I said to my agent and the driver 'let's turn around I don't want to go no more'. My agent was stressing. He was so stressed, he was saying 'Jeremie you don't understand this opportunity. This is life changing. This is first-team. This is Celtic. Big history and they play Champions League.'
"My brother text me on the phone and said forget about your friends. I understand how you are feeling but you said you wanted to be a footballer. There comes a time in your life that you need to leave your friends and need to sacrifice a lot, even your family. That journey starts now. Once he said that I was like 'ok we are going'. They were like brothers to me and leaving them was one of the worst things I had to go through."
Frimpong admits Lennon was branded as his 'dad' on the Lennoxtown training field and that he still 'loves' the former Hoops boss to this day. He added: "My time at Celtic was amazing. I won everything there. There was this manager called Neil Lennon. I love him till this day. He loves me. Our relationship was like father and son. Sometimes the players would say go and speak to your dad and things like that. After we won the cup I think I ran to him and we both started laughing.
"I remember when I got the red card (in 2019 League Cup final against Rangers) I was like 'oh my days what did I just do?' We were leading 1-0 but that red card was a penalty for them. I was like 'what did I just do?' If they score now I am off and we are down to ten men against Rangers.
"I remember watching the penalty and Fraser Forster saved it. That moment I was so happy but than I had to relax as there was 30 minutes to go. I was sent to a room to watch it on TV. This was the worst time of my life but when the whistle went it was the best feeling."
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