Disastrous time in Germany is the spur that drives new Celt on
There’s no danger of Christopher Jullien repeating the mistake made by so many imports to Scottish football.
He hasn’t arrived at Celtic believing that playing in the SPFL is going to be easy.
The defender is adamant the Hoops will benefit from a period that was the worst of his club career so far.
In his view, you learn more from failure than from success.
And the time he spent with Freiburg was certainly not a triumph.
One substitute appearance in three years was all the 26-year-old could muster.
Many players would be keen to forget such a traumatic time, but Jullien is quite happy to talk about his struggle.
He said: “I am someone who wants to progress every day, so I would say the best time of my career would be the part in Germany – where I failed.
“It made me realise what I had to do to become stronger. I realised I had to do more.
“It has definitely made me the man I am now.
“It was a difficult and lonely time. I was far from my home, in a different country, and trying to cope with a different language.
“It’s different circumstances now because I arrive in Scotland, and I’m able to speak English.
“It was difficult back then, but I think every player has to be in a bad position at one point to grow up and learn things.
“The Freiburg coach decided not to play me, but maybe it was my own fault. “I arrived there with the wrong mind-set. “I was thinking everything would just automatically be perfect.
“I went there at 20 years old, in 2013, after winning the Under-20 World Cup and thought: ‘I’ve won the World Cup, so everything will be fine’.
“I still speak about it now with my dad, Pascal.
“He keeps that spell in his mind and will say to me that he is so sad that I lost three years of my life in Germany.
“I say: ‘No, I am happy. It was a good moment’.
“It was really difficult, but if you can get up from a time like that, then it’s the best.
“Now I can thank Freiburg and that time for being here in Scotland, and being the man I am.”
Jullien got his career back on track with Toulouse and played more than 100 games for them over the last three seasons.
He now speaks fluent English thanks to the help of his Welsh wife, a former dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris.
Last summer, the Frenchman watched some of his former team-mates, including
school friend Paul Pogba, lift the World Cup in Russia.
Jullien hasn’t been called up by his country since his days with the Under-20s.
Scottish football has revived a few careers in the past and he hopes to be the latest to benefit.
He said: “I watched the guys win the World Cup and I’m still thinking about it. Everything happens fast in football.
“When I saw them, the first thing I did was send them a text to say congratulations. ‘It’s a good thing: you won the ‘little’ World Cup, and now you’ve won the big one’.
“After that text, I was just thinking – I could have been there.
“It’s still a goal. When you have something in your mind, you have to keep it there.
“For me, it’s still a goal to be part of the national team.
“I know it’s going to be difficult, but you just have to work for it and not have any limits. Anything’s possible.
“This is what’s in my mind right now, and we’ll see what happens next.”
The player and his agent will have seen men like Victor Wanyama and Virgil van Dijk clinch lucrative moves to England after spending time at Celtic.
He was linked with a move to Southampton when Van Dijk was bought by Liverpool.
For the moment, his ambitions are all about what he can do in the green-andwhite hoops.
He said: “It would be crazy to think about two or three years ahead. Right now I’m just focused on here
“I think the first goal is the equal the nine-in-a-row and be part of the history of this club.
“We also have to qualify for the Champions League. That’s really important to the club and everyone around it.”