What Henrik Larsson boldly told Barcelona before Celtic icon accepted 2004 move

After concluding his illustrious seven-year tenure in Glasgow, the iconic Hoops player became a free agent.Most players would instantly hop on a plane to Catalonia if Barcelona were to call. Not the Henrik Larsson type.

When the Celtic veteran decided to end his historic seven years in Glasgow back in 2004, he had the biggest teams in Europe to pick from. With an amazing 242 goals in 315 appearances, the King of Kings—possibly the greatest Hoops player ever—left Parkhead on a free transfer.

The courageous striker placed his future on the back burner while he represented Sweden at the Euros, even though the King of Kings planned to relocate to a warmer environment. Larsson’s first response tells you all you need to know about the easygoing striker, even when Barca is on the other end of the phone.

“I got about 30 offers after announcing I was leaving Celtic, from Spain, Italy, Germany, France, and something from the UAE,” he claimed in an extensive interview with the Guardian. My wife, Magdalena, called to let me know that Barcelona was considering a deal. In my Sweden bubble at the 2004 European Championship.

Tell them to wait, I replied, not wanting to interfere with my preparations. She chuckled and remarked, “I don’t think they will wait.” So she immediately travelled to Spain with my agent to handle the negotiations on her own.”

After a few weeks, Larsson made a dramatic transfer to the Nou Camp following his tearful farewell from Celtic Park. He left two years later as a Barcelona hero, having helped win the Champions League in 2006 with two assists against Arsenal.

“Obviously, it was a very different dressing room to Celtic,” the Super Swede remarked. Ronaldinho was here when I arrived at Barcelona, and they also signed Deco, [Ludovic] Giuly, and Samuel Eto’o at the same time. It was fun to no longer be the main guy. Ronaldinho was under duress. And he approached it entirely differently.”

During that historic May 2006 Stade de France evening, Larsson disclosed that he nearly missed out on Frank Rijkaard’s matchday roster. “It was touch and go between me and Messi,” he continued. However, I went to the bench and he sat in the stands.

“Back then, Messi wasn’t the Messi he became. Although he was still a very talented player, he had changed over the course of a year or two. But Frank Rijkaard understood I was accustomed to that rough game because I was also playing an English squad.

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