Coetzee nearly quit after Celtic deal bombed

Rivaldo Coetzee (right) has revealed that he contemplated quitting football following his failed move to Scottish Premiership giants Celtic.

The deal between Ajax Cape Town and the Glasgow-based club collapsed after Coetzee failed a routine medical check.

The disappointment of missing out on potentially playing Uefa Champions League football was, however, softened by a move to Mamelodi Sundowns who took a chance on him despite the foot injury that scuppered the transfer to Europe in 2017.

“It’s still tough to talk about it to this day. You know when you have an opportunity to go overseas to such a big club...for it to fall through at the last minute was hard,” Coetzee told Sundowns’ Pitchside podcast.

“I thought about quitting at the time because I had already signed a contract. I spoke to the coach at that time Brendan Rodgers over the phone. From the conversation we had, I could see that it’s a stepping stone to go even further because he gave me the confidence that I would go there and play.

“And that I’m going to be big for him and the team. For it to fall through was tough and I still don’t know how I made it through. But when Sundowns came, it made it better a little bit.”

Coetzee went into detail about the mysterious ankle injury that he had been carrying without feeling any pain before the Celtic medics picked it up during a rigorous medical.

“No, I played the first game of the season for Ajax and by the third game that’s when the deal with Celtic was moving fast,” he recalled.

“I was playing with no issues and I was also surprised when they called and told me about it. I did a repeat MRI scan and it was the same result but there was no pain and I was playing as normal.”

The 27-year-old has since overcome the injury and has been one of the Brazilians’ star performers this season.