New Celtic signing Stefan Scepovic insisted Parkhead was always his first-choice destination despite his apparent transfer U-turn.
Scepovic faces a battle to win over some Celtic fans who were unhappy with his behaviour on the final day of a transfer window, which might yet offer more drama for the club.
Celtic signed Scepovic from Sporting Gijon late last night but just missed the deadline to sign Manchester City striker John Guidetti on loan. However, the Scottish football authorities will take their case to FIFA in a bid to push the signing through.
Guidetti arrived at Celtic after Peter Lawwell had revealed he had been told on Sunday night that Scepovic did not want to come to the club despite agreeing a deal, passing a medical and securing a work permit.
The 24-year-old subsequently held talks with Getafe but a deal fell through, reportedly because of Spanish financial fair play rules, and the Celtic transfer was back on.
But, as he was unveiled as a Celtic player in Glasgow, he said: "I never said that I don't want to come. In all transfers you have some problems but I don't want to look at what happened before. I just want to look at the future.
"My first option was always Celtic and I'm very happy that I'm here. The most important thing is that we finished everything.
"In one hour everything can change but I always said I wanted to come here and I'm sitting here now."
When asked more about how close he got to signing for Getafe and why he ended up in Glasgow, Scepovic said: "It was just talking, nothing more."
When asked if he thought he faced additional pressure to win round the fans, he said: "My first choice was always Celtic. I will work hard and do everything on the field to prove I can play here."
The Serbia international added: "Celtic is a big club with a lot of history and we can do a lot more things with very good fans. I know everything about the club.
"I have seen some games on the TV and I know Celtic is a big club."
Scepovic comes in following the departures of Teemu Pukki and Amido Balde on loan deals. His 6' 1" frame and reputed aerial ability will offer manager Ronny Deila another option to Leigh Griffiths and Anthony Stokes.
He said: "I don't like to speak about me but I will try to bring something different. We will see on the pitch, I will do my talking on the park.
"I like balls into space and movement but I need to come into the team and do what the coach says."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article