BLINK and you missed Colin Kazim-Richards’ career at Celtic – all 13 games.
The London-born Turkish international striker was signed by Ronny Deila on deadline day in January 2016 and was released by Brendan Rodgers only days after taking charge four months later.
The Kazim-Richards deal was yet another puzzling arrival around that period at the Parkhead club.
ON HIS KNEES…Colin Kazim-Richards gets that sinking feeling on his Celtic debut in February 2016 – a 2-1 loss to Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
Deila raced him into his first team to make his debut in a 2-1 league loss against Aberdeen at Pittodrie only three days after his switch from Feyenoord.
Future Ibrox boss Giovanni van Bronckhorst allowed the 29-year-old forward to leave after just half-a-season in Rotterdam amid tales of off-the-field squabbles.
Kazim-Richards scored just one goal in 11 games for the Dutch outfit after signing from Bursaspor before being suspended by the club following an altercation with a local journalist.
The player kicked off his soccer journey as a youth at Queens Park Rangers and then Arsenal. He also played for Bury, Brighton and Sheffield United before moving to his adopted homeland to join Fenerbahce.
He also moved across Istanbul and played for Galatasaray, with loan spells mixed into those times at French club Toulouse and Olympiakos in Greece.
THE ONE AND ONLY…Colin Kazim-Richards celebrates his solitary league goal for Celtic in a 3-1 win over Hearts at Tynecastle in April 2016. Mikael Lustig, Callum McGregor, Scott Brown and Erik Sviatchenko join in.
Kazim-Richards went back to England play for Blackburn Rovers before going to Bursaspor.
He netted two goals for the Hoops – one against Hearts in the league and the other in a Scottish Cup-tie against amateur side East Kilbride.
The misfiring marksman’s next adventure after Celtic took him to Brazil where he signed for Coritiba.
He then had a spell in Mexico before returning to the UK with Derby County in October 2020.
Two years later, Kazim-Richards returned for another spell in Turkey with Fatih Karaguruk SK before the curtain came down on a well-travelled career that included a pitstop in the east end of Glasgow.
* TOMORROW: Don’t miss the adventures of another former Celt in CQN’s EXCLUSIVE series.
