Jeremie Aliadiere at his Celtic unveiling. (Image: PA.)
Jeremie Aliadiere has spoken out on why he had to leave just two months after signing for the Bhoys on loan from . The French striker arrived with plenty of promise following a handful of appearances in north London, wanting regular playing time under a Gordon Strachan side attempting to wrestle the title back from .
Aliadiare was set to play alongside legendary striker John Hartson, who bagged 18 goals on the way to Celtic’s 40th crown, having been given a glowing endorsement from .
The striker’s issue in England was that Wenger already had Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp at his disposal, who had just won the title without losing a single game. Aliadiare made seven appearances during that historic season, but wanted to establish himself as a starter. He was afforded that opportunity at Celtic, where he joined on loan for the 2005/06 season.
“Simple really, I needed a loan after I had done my cruciate,” Aliadiare explained to Express Sport with bettingtools.com when asked about the initial move. “Gordon Strachan was great, and I had a good pre-season. The status of the club was massive, it was such a privilege to sign, and everything seems to be going well. You could feel the history of the club was big too.”
However, Aliadiare mustered just two substitute appearances before cutting his loan short in August. He only played in Celtic’s qualifying tie with Artmedia Bratislava, as the club brought in Maciej Zurawski from Wisla Krakow and handed him the number seven shirt.
Jeremie Aliadiere was thankful for Gordon Strachan’s honesty. (Image: PA.)
The Polish striker was prioritised over Aliadiare, as Celtic’s own player as opposed to a loanee from the Premier League, and Zurawski went on to score 30 goals in two seasons.
Aliadiare, informed that he would be pushed lower down the pecking order, opted to cut his loan short and return to England.
“Unfortunately before the window closed, Celtic signed a Polish striker and this made it difficult, and he had to play versus I was only on loan,” Aliadiare added.
“Gordan Strachan was always honest and said that given they had made a permanent striker signing, that he had to play and then I would be next in line to play. So we looked to make this work, but unfortunately it wasn’t working out, so I moved to .”
Aliadiare moved to newly-promoted West Ham but injury hampered his playing time, making just eight appearances, before side took over the loan before he became a valuable squad member at once again.