![\"Celtic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_14614466.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA dazzling playmaker once tipped to reach the pinnacle of football hung up his boots at the age of just 28<\/p>\n
Celtic flop Charly Musonda(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n
Charly Musonda was paraded as Celtic<\/a>‘s marquee signing.<\/p>\n Lured from Chelsea, Brendan Rodgers<\/a> reportedly beat 24 clubs to his signature in January 2018. Landing the Belgian wonderkid on an 18-month loan deal was viewed as a major coup for the Scottish champions.<\/p>\n Sadly, the rising star failed to live up to the hype. Aside from a moment of magic against Zenit St Petersburg, Musonda<\/a> proved a spectacular flop. The playmaker lasted just four months in Glasgow \u2013 featuring only eight times \u2013 before being shipped back to Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n An abject failure who, if you are to believe Rodgers at the time of Musonda’s Hoops unveiling, had even attracted interest from Real Madrid<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yet despite struggling to get his career off the ground at Parkhead, Musonda claims Barcelona were in for him the summer he cut short his Celtic loan.<\/p>\n In a new interview with BBC Sport<\/a>, the playmaker – who retired last summer aged just 28 after a stint in Cyprus marred by unpaid wages<\/a> – admitted his doomed career could’ve turned out very differently.<\/p>\n He said: “I look back and think how difficult it was for young players [at Chelsea]. I was probably one of the best, if not the best, of my generation there and it was just so tough.<\/p>\n “The season started and I could not catch a break. In the first game, the Community Shield, we lost on penalties to Arsenal. I was coming on with about 15 minutes to go and, just as I had been called, Pedro got sent off. So when I did get on, we were just hanging on until penalties.<\/p>\n “Then the Premier League starts – Burnley at home – and we have two players sent off again. That is my Premier League debut, I came on with five minutes to go.<\/p>\n “That is when I was knocking on the door – and that is the hardest part. Brendan Rodgers had wanted me at Celtic at the start of the season but Chelsea said no, then they came back in January and I went with the World Cup in mind.”<\/p>\n Musonda failed to make his mark in Glasgow(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n Despite losing his way at Celtic, Musonda claims Barca were chasing his signature before he opted to join Dutch side Vitesse on loan – a decision he would live to regret.<\/p>\n He said: “Barcelona wanted me that summer where I would spend six months in the B team and then hopefully get promoted to the first team but Vitesse also wanted me. Chelsea said, ‘Look, go to Vitesse’.<\/p>\n “During the September international break, I was playing a friendly in Antwerp. The ball was in the air and the guy just put his studs into my knee. I was told I would be out for two months \u2013 it ended up being nearly four years.”<\/p>\n A hellish spell of injuries followed before his career cruelly fizzled out with Levante and then Anorthosis – where he is still waiting for his final pay cheque.<\/p>\n Musonda – who now lives in LA and is developing a one-versus-one, combat sport-style football league – revealed: “If I’d played 50 games at Chelsea, or even 20, I’m not in this position today.<\/p>\n “In Spain I left early, in Cyprus I wasn’t paid. I had to walk away and leave money behind – still haven’t been paid.”<\/p>\n Musonda, though, hopes brighter days lie ahead in his new venture. He added: “Doing what you believe in – that’s happiness. Living with purpose, adventure, things fall where they fall.<\/p>\n “That mentality comes from my dad. Even when life hit him hard, he always smiled.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A dazzling playmaker once tipped to reach the pinnacle of football hung up his boots at the age…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7336,2817,177346,2901,218,3637,8058,11728,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-505472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-brendan-rodgers","9":"tag-celtic-fc","10":"tag-charly-musonda","11":"tag-fc-barcelona","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-real-madrid-cf","14":"tag-scottish-premiership","15":"tag-scottish-professional-football-league","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Musonda](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_14570077.jpg\")
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