The agent of Hellas Verona defender Amir Rrahmani has revealed that the Kosovan international turned down a move to Celtic in the summer, in order to secure a move to Italy.

The 25-year-old was playing for Dinamo Zagreb when the Hoops, Standard Liege and Verona all tried to snap up the player. Adrian Aliaj has confirmed that Verona manager Ivan Juric was the decisive factor in his switch to Serie A.

Both Rrahmani and Juric speak Croatian which the centre-back believed would help him settle into his new club:

“Amir speaks Croatian having played in an important team like Dinamo Zagreb, who recently beat Atalanta 4-0 in the Champions League.”

“He had played in the Europa League and came from an already good level. Juric was also important for me as an agent, because in the summer there were Standard Liege and Celtic on the player, but seeing that he was on the Hellas bench we decided with Amir to make this choice.”

Celtic would go on to sign Hapoel Beer Sheva defender Hatem Abd Elhamed instead, which hasn’t worked out too badly for the Scottish champions. The Israeli international excelled in the Old Firm derby last month, despite having to play both as a fullback and centre-back during the game.

Rrahmani has done just as well for Verona, having played in all seven league games so far, with his side conceding just five goals and keeping three clean sheets.