CAMERON HARPER, the 19-year-old attacker who left Celtic in January, has opened up about his exit from Scotland.
And, he has also revealed key details about the squad ‘cliques’ which led to a lack of ‘togetherness’.
Harper made his debut against Hibernian earlier this year, when 13 Celtic players were forced to self-isolate following the club’s return from Dubai.
That was his only appearance for the first team, one of the main reasons for his departure to New York Red Bulls.
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— New York Red Bulls (@NewYorkRedBulls) March 5, 2021
We've signed Cameron Harper from @CelticFC! Welcome, @Cameron__Harper!
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Speaking about his new club to American Soccer Now, he said: “Definitely, there's a good spirit.
"I think that's one thing at Celtic that sometimes did lack, in terms of our reserves or our first team - there were kind of cliques and there wasn't a full togetherness.
“At Red Bull, everyone wants to work hard for one another. He's [manager Gerhard Struber] creating a real togetherness and a real spirit where, if you're not going to give 100%, don't even bother showing up type of thing.”
Celtic did attempt to keep Harper in Scotland, but he admits that a lack of opportunities made his mind up in regards to where he should play his football.
He continued: “The contract talks started happening, there was no kind of agreement on anything.
“When they shipped me back down to the reserves, that's when I got it tough because there's only a few guys there.
“There are about 5-10 guys there per day and people were out on loan. I would say maybe in September, it was getting pretty bad in terms of my place there. But I was still playing games, so it was okay.
"Leading up towards December, January, when I had a good idea about leaving, that's when it kind of got a little bit uncomfortable.”
Harper did also praise the way the club developed him.
He added: "I realised I have to take my development very seriously if I really want to improve. That winning mentality, sometimes people can say: 'oh, it's about development over winning.' And I agree - but when you need to win every game, that's when you also develop because you can't just take games off.”
“Getting used to an environment where it's pretty cutthroat, is definitely going to help in terms of coming to a first team environment at Red Bull which is also very cutthroat.
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