Bournemouth yesterday signed Ryan Christie from Celtic for a fee of around £2.5m, bringing to an end another Want Away saga that has dogged our football club for just over a year. With his best mate Stuart Armstrong just along the road at Southampton, Christie will get the chance to show what he can go playing in English football.
Celtic released a wee video in tribute to Christie after his transfer was confirmed.
“I’m absolutely buzzing, I’m absolutely desperate to get started now. I’m really excited for the challenge ahead, a new challenge for me, one I’ve always wanted to be part of,” former Celt Ryan Christie told the Bournemouth FC website.
“Throughout my whole career I’ve always wanted to try my hand down in England and I’m really excited to join a team who’s going for promotion, going out to win games and achieve success. I’m used to that at Celtic so hopefully I can help bring that to Bournemouth,” Christie added.
“The attraction was a bit of everything. It sounds a bit crazy but I’ve actually had an affection for Bournemouth for years now. Believe it or not Bournemouth put a bid in for me back in my Inverness days as a really young player. You could say I’ve looked out for the club for a good few years now.
“As soon as I heard the club were an option, I managed to speak to Scott Parker and with the way he spoke, he’s a big encouragement in terms of the brand of football and the way his teams play.
“From watching what he did with Fulham and then seeing him come to Bournemouth I think I’m taking a big step in the right direction.
“The whole feeling of it was right and even though I did have a couple of other options this was the one that I was just desperate to get over the line,” Christie stated.
Christie is currently away with the Scotland squad who face Denmark in the World Cup qualifier this evening. He took a few moments to record this video on his phone to send to his new club.
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