Nygren on significant transfer interest and why he decided to stay at Celtic
Benjamin Nygren has admitted that he was the subject of serious transfer interest in the summer after his impressive debut season in Glasgow…
The Swedish international scored 21 goals and registered 9 assists for Celtic following his £2.5 million move from Danish side Nordsjaelland last summer, making him very much a key player in the Celtic side.
Nygren has admitted that there were offers on the table, but he decided to stay put at Celtic for this season at least.
“There was interest. That’s up to me and the club and the potential club. So, whenever the right time is, it is,” Benjamin Nygren said as reported by Daily Record. “I play for a huge club like Celtic. I really enjoy being here. I wanted to stay here to play in the biggest competition.
“Unfortunately we didn’t make it to the Champions League but we still play in the Europa league. I want to make it better here and then go further in the Europa League than what we did last season.
“I wanted to stay here and continue to make it good. When the right time is, the right time is. But it’s not something I think of. It’s not my focus. My focus is just to do it as well as possible here and to win more trophies here. And then what happens in the future, we’ll see.”
When asked whether it was a difficult transfer window for him to deal with, the Sweden international was clear that it wasn’t really a problem for him.
“Not really,” Benji said. “I think you’ve learned as a player, you cannot really think of it too much or focus on it too much. So I just try to focus on training as well as possible, play as well as possible. And you cannot control what happens in the future.
“So my focus has only been to do as well as possible for Celtic.”
Nygren has made a strong start to the new season, registering 11 goal contributions in his first nine appearances, and he’s certainly satisfied with his start to the new campaign.
“I think the start has been good overall,” the Celtic star admitted. “Of course, it was a big disappointment that we didn’t make the Champions League.
“The way I see it, it’s in the past now. We have to grow from it and learn from it. We cannot change it. All we can do is go into every game and try to win it, like we’ve done. And just continue like that.”
Nygren also spoke about tomorrow’s match against the Rangers at Ibrox on Sunday in the Premier Sports Cup quarter-final which will be played without any Celtic supporters present.
“We love the support from our supporters and we always feel it,” he explained. “But now it is what it is and we can’t do anything about it, so we just have to focus on the game.
“I’ve always thought of it in the way that I’ve always loved to play in my career, both at home and away. I love playing in front of big crowds where it’s loud and the energy is high.
“The way I see it, it’s a lot of energy within the stadium. Even though they don’t support us, you can take it to your advantage.
Benjamin Nygren also praised club record signing Kasper Hogh, who joined from Bodo/Glimt during the summer transfer window, and revealed he’s formed a close relationship with his fellow Scandinavian on and off the pitch. Nygren said of Hogh: “He’s a great guy. I really like him as a person. He is really positive and the way he thinks of things, I really like. He’s a great player and we get on, on the pitch and off the pitch.
“I think not only Kasper has lifted the team, a lot of the other players that came have done it as well. It’s always great when you have more players that are a big threat and can score a lot of goals.
“The more quality players we have, it’s only good. I think the relationships, both me and Duran and me and Kasper, have been very good. We want to continue like that.”
Benjamin Nygren has done brilliantly at Celtic but has yet to score against the Rangers. Tomorrow is the perfect time for him to put that one right and all the better if it’s the winner!
