Scottish champions Celtic may well be regretting their decision not to sign Croatian striker Andrej Kramaric in the recent past, with the 31-year-old currently playing a central role in his country’s surge to the last four of the World Cup.
Reports back in 2014 suggested that the Old Firm outfit had moved to sign Serbian marksman Stefan Scepovic ahead of Kramaric, with the latter man’s agent notably stating his frustration at the Hoops’ decision not to follow through with their interest:
“Celtic left us standing outside in the rain. I will never deal with them again.”
That decision to plump for the aforementioned Scepovic instead seemingly backfired as the former Sporting Gijon man went on to score just five goals during his debut season in Glasgow, before being shipped out on loan to Getafe for the following campaign.
Kramaric, meanwhile, would go on to join Leicester City in January 2015 on a £9.7m deal, before the Scottish Premiership side were then said to again be interested in a deal later that year to prise the emerging talent from the King Power Stadium.
However, that move again failed to become a reality with Ronny Deila and co instead landing the likes of Nadir Ciftci and Carlton Cole that summer, while the Foxes gem eventually joined Bundesliga side Hoffenheim on an initial loan deal in January 2016.
That swoop has since proven a real match made in heaven with the 79-cap marksman having scored 106 goals and laid on 49 assists in 234 games in all competitions during his time in Germany, taking his overall club career tally to 196 goals thus far.
More relevantly, however, the 5 foot 10 striker has recently caught the eye as a result of impressive form on the international stage in Qatar, with the in-form “genius” – as previously described by commentator Derek Rae – having lead the line superbly for the 2018 finalists.
The £47k-per-week man has scored twice in his five outings at the tournament so far – all of which have come from the start – having posed a potent threat in his centre-forward berth after averaging 1.8 shots per game to date.
The striker’s two goals came in the 4-1 drubbing of Canada in the second group game, having shown remarkable, ‘ice-cool composure’ – in the words of 90min’s Chris Smith – to twice slot home against John Herdman’s men.
The one-time Dinamo Zagreb ace – who boasts an average match rating of 6.82, as per Sofascore – has also impressed as a result of his hold-up play and ability to keep possession for his side despite coming up against elite opposition, with that illustrated by his impressive pass accuracy rate of 89%.
It could well be that Kramaric goes on to help steer his side to World Cup glory by the end of this week, with those back at Celtic Park left to reflect upon a notable missed opportunity all those years ago.