Albian Ajeti in Celtic 'no regrets' admission as outcast reflects on what went wrong at Parkhead

The frontman made his way to Glasgow's east end from West Ham in 2020 but it was not quite the fairytale move he hoped for.

Albian Ajeti is adamant he has no regrets from his time at Celtic despite wishing he had been given more of an opportunity at Parkhead.

The striker was brought to Glasgow's east end from West Ham in 2020 by then-boss Neil Lennon, with the Hoops shelling out £4.5million to secure his services. The 25-year-old was then part of the squad who aimed to make history in a battle for 10-in-a-row. He marked his league debut by bagging a late winner as a sub at Dundee United - scoring five goals in his first six Premiership games. However, injuries and tactical tweaks under new manager Ange Postecoglou led to a reduced role.

Despite an impressive start at Celtic, Ajeti quickly fell out of favour and failed to establish himself as a bonafide Parkhead star. The frontman soon found himself on the outside looking in with his hamstring injury against Real Betis proving the hurdle he could not get over. And it was not long until an 'available' sign was put up which resulted in him joining Sturm Graz on a season-long loan.

And the striker admits he's struggled to pin down the main reason why his stint in Glasgow didn't come off.

"I'm telling you, I don't know what went wrong really," Ajeti told Football Scotland. Honestly, when I realised I wouldn't play again was when I came back from an injury and I was just training by myself or sometimes with the second team.

"I just realised after my injury I was totally dropped, I was not training with the team, I was training separate most of the time, and that was a very tough time for me. Listen, I can't say anything bad about the club, the history, the fans, my teammates. To be honest, I'm very sad that it just didn't work out as I hoped for.

"I tried very hard, I've been working very hard during my time at Celtic. This is football. Sometimes it just doesn't work out. I had to accept it, it wasn't easy, it was very tough.

"Honestly, I don't have any regrets at all. I will just look back and say it was unfortunate that it didn't work out as they and I hoped for. It's a special club, it's a very special club, I know that. So I'm telling you, I would definitely not regret anything, even though I probably had the toughest time of my career so far, especially the second year. But, I will not regret it."

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