Departing Celtic striker John Guidetti has claimed that he was frozen out at Parkhead by Ronny Deila.

 

The Swede insisted that after telling Deila that he would not sign a permanent deal after his season long loan at the club from Manchester City, he was told that the manager wouldn't be playing him.

"I would start, but the day before the game he [Deila] said I would sit on the bench because I was not going to stay at the club," Guidetti said.

And the striker claimed that even if he did do well when he was given game time that he was subsequently overlooked since Celtic did not want his value to go up.

"He said he would focus on the players who wanted to be there," he claimed. "The coach said that we can't play you if you keep scoring goals and we build up your value, and then you leave the club."

Guidetti scored 15 goals for Celtic in all competitions last term but claims he was hindered by the quality of the SPFL.

The striker made an immediate impression when he first arrived at the club last season but over the winter period his performances dipped.

Deila claimed midway through the campaign that Guidetti hadn't been doing enough to merit a first-team start and in the latter period of the season he was overtaken in the pecking order by Leigh Griffiths.

Guidetti said: "I was taken out of the national team after scoring, I think it was 11 goals in 10 matches, but I did not play.

"Then I understood. It felt like my goals at Celtic were not counted in the same way as in other leagues and I can understand."

And the 23-year-old has acknowledged that while the Europa League game against Inter Milan earlier this year delivered the kind of tension and energy that Celtic Park is renowned for, he claimed that routine league games did not deliver.

"We played Inter and the stadium was packed," he told Swedish newspaper Expressen,. "It was the most magical atmosphere I have experienced. But there are too few big games in Celtic.

"So I felt that my goals were not counted in the same way as in another league. There are too few 'big games'."

Guidetti is reportedly being tracked by Everton, Norwich and Watford while Turkish club Trabzonspor are also rumoured to be keen on signing the forward.