Celtic reportedly fluffed the chance to signing Poland sensation Robert Lewandowski over a decade ago, with the Parkhead outfit no doubt having been left to rue that notable blunder on the Barcelona hotshot.
The suggestion is that agent Raymond Sparkes offered the then-youngster to the Old Firm giants back in 2009, with the Hoops having the chance to land the centre-forward from Lech Poznan for a reported fee of just €1.75m (£1.5m).
As it proved, the Glasgow side did not heed that recommendation as the Warsaw-born ace would go on to join Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund a year later, albeit with Sparkes himself seemingly admitting to some of the blame for that missed opportunity:
“I said to Celtic: “I’ve found a striker you should be looking at. But I probably talked myself out of a deal because I also said to them I didn’t think he justified that kind of fee so early in his career.”
Those at Celtic Park have since been forced to watch the “goal-scoring monster” – as described by Arielle Castillo – go on to emerge as a leading figure in European football since then, with the now veteran ace having plundered a truly staggering haul of 527 club career goals in total.
That includes a simply eye-watering stint at former club Bayern Munich in which the 6 foot 1 machine scored 344 times and registered 72 assists in just 375 games, while notably beating a record set by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo after scoring 81 times in just his first 100 Champions League games.
Now at Camp Nou – where he has 18 goals in just 19 games for the La Liga giants – the 34-year-old is a truly prolific and potent attacking threat, having also showcased that talent on the World Cup stage in recent weeks.
While Poland crashed out in the round of 16 at the hands of holders France, following a Kylian Mbappe-inspired victory, Lewandowski scored twice in his four outings in the competition, including in the vital group stage win over Saudi Arabia.
That outing also saw the £346k-per-week maestro lay on an assist as well as complete four of his six dribbles in what was an all-round centre-forward display, having unsurprisingly received a match rating of 7.9, as per Sofascore.
The striker’s subsequent, consolation strike from the penalty spot against Les Bleus ensured that he now has 78 goals in 138 games for his country at senior level, moving him ahead of Brazilian legend Pele into tenth place in the list of all-time top-scorers in international history.
To think that Celtic could well have landed such a talent – who is now said to be worth roughly £52m according to CIES Football Observatory – for a mere bargain price all those years ago will no doubt sting somewhat for both the club and its supporters.
Of course, few could have predicted the career that the Pole would go on to have, although it will still seemingly smart as far as the Bhoys are concerned.