Henrik Larsson has turned down a return to Celtic in favour of a move to Swedish club Helsingborgs.
The 34-year-old Champions League winner with Barcelona achieved iconic status at Celtic after seven successful years with the club and it has emerged that Parkhead chief executive Peter Lawwell made an attempt to re-sign the striker.
“Yes, I spoke to Henrik and I spoke to his agent Rob Jansen. But three words into it we were told ‘no’,” Lawwell told the Daily Record.
“So there was no point in pushing it any further as Henrik had made up his mind. If it had been anyone else then you would feel you had a chance but with Henrik Larsson we didn’t have a chance.
“He has signed a contract with Helsingborg and they have sold season books on the back of it so there was no going back. We knew he had made his mind up.”
Larsson will represent Sweden in the World Cup before returning to his homeland for the coming season.
