Celtic loanee Marco Tilio has revealed why he couldn’t turn down a move to the Hoops in 2023, despite since failing to make an impact.

Tilio is currently on loan at Melbourne City in his homeland until the end of the A-League season. However, that hasn’t stopped him from looking back on his move to Celtic fondly.

Tilio’s future has yet to be decided, but for the time being, he was quick to emphasise that he is still a Celtic player, despite being loaned out just over six months after joining permanently.

While his time at Celtic has been challenging, he remains under contract with the club and is focused on his current loan spell at Melbourne City.

He said: (Optus Sport), “There were a few clubs and obviously come the end of the season, it sort of narrows down. And speaking to all the clubs I did at the time, I was convinced mostly by Celtic.

“Obviously they’re a huge team. And yeah, I couldn’t give up the opportunity to play for Celtic. So I’m really glad I made that decision at the time. And yeah, I’m still owned by them at the moment.

“My first day when I got to Glasgow, sort of went into the building and it’s like huge. And there’s so many people, there’s staff everywhere. There’s a lot of players and there’s big players there.

“So it was sort of frightening at first because you sort of need to introduce yourself. Like, who’s this little guy? You know what I mean? I’m just an Aussie that’s come in first time. But they’re welcoming to me anyway. So it made it a lot easier. But that first day, obviously a little bit of nerves.”

It’s great to hear how lucky Tilio feels about joining Celtic. Hopefully, he can return to the Hoops and show what he’s capable of. However, that seems unlikely right now, given he struggled to get into the Celtic squad before he was loaned back to Melbourne.

Despite his tough start, Tilio is staying positive and focused on making the most of his time at Melbourne City, which might give him a chance to return to Celtic one day. But whether he can make his way back into the squad is still uncertain.

Tilio seems to be far down the Celtic pecking order for wingers at the moment. However, stranger things have happened, and he is clearly a very talented player. He may look to build on the momentum he’s created in his homeland with Melbourne City, using it as a stepping stone to eventually relive his Celtic dream move.