Dedryck Boyata has admitted that he should have joined Celtic earlier.
The defender was involved in a summer transfer saga when he was the subject of interest from Fulham and tried to force a move through.
It looked at one stage that Boyata could be frozen out of football but Brendan Rodgers called on his diplomatic skills to bring the defender back into the fold despite the hostile reception of some Celtic supporters.
Boyata seems certain to leave Celtic at the end of this season but admits that he handled things wrongly during the summer.
“That was hard, I will not deny that,” he reflected in The Sun. “But everything is going well again today. I play every game.
“We will see what the future will bring. I do not try to think too much about that.”
Reflecting on his time at Manchester City he added: “I should have taken that step of joining Celtic even earlier.
“Under Roberto Mancini I got my first chances. I was 19 at the time. After that season I was able to go to Everton. I should have done that.
“City became bigger and bigger every year. That does not make it easy for a youth player to continue to grow.”
Boyata joined Manchester City as a teenager but only started nine Premier League matches before switched to Celtic in 2015.
Loan spells at Bolton and FC Twente didn’t really work out but after winning over Brendan Rodgers in January 2017 his career has gone from strength to strength.