Bayern Munich signee Liam Morrison tells the tale of how he got to Bavaria

One of Bayern Munich’s least heralded transfers of the summer was new signee Celtic FC center-back prospect Liam Morrison. The 16-year-old phenom made the leap to Germany with one goal in mind: to become the best defender in the world.

That might sound like quite the lofty aspiration, but Morrison specifically selected Bayern Munich because he felt that pursuing his development at Säbener Strasse would give him the best chance to achieve that goal.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, Morrison explained how his career path led him from Scotland to Bavaria:

The final goal for me is to be the best defender in the world. That is the ultimate goal. How I get there is by constantly trying to make myself a better player. Playing alongside great players can only help me in that respect. I take inspiration from Virgil van Dijk. He has been unbelievable since moving to Liverpool and you could see even when he was at Celtic what a great player he was. It needs so much hard work and I know I have a long way to go to get to where I want to be. I have to keep my feet on the ground and stay grounded and work hard.

Morrison, who signed a three-year deal with Bayern Munich, did not always plan for things to go this way. The youngster was not expecting Die Roten to come calling:

It was surprising when I heard. My dad and me were sitting in the living room watching football when a text came from my agent David Moss saying Bayern were interested. I turned to my dad and said, “No way.” We decided not to read anything into it because it might be a daft rumor or something.

But David contacted Bayern and came back the next day to say, yeah, they want you to come over and see the campus. It was a dream come true for a club the size of Bayern Munich to be interested in me.

Interestingly, Morrison had already started to learn German due to previous interest from Hoffenheim. Despite his successful run at Celtic, Morrison knew he wanted to take on the challenge of learning a new language and playing in a different country:

Ever since I started playing football as a little kid it was always my dream to move to a new country and learn a new language. Celtic tried hard to keep me but my decision was already made as soon as Bayern came in. I loved every minute of my time at Celtic and I have to thank every one of the people I worked with who helped me so much. But when the Bayern offer came along, it’s not really a club you can turn down is it? It was such an attractive offer. It was a no-brainer for me and my family. German culture football-wise is how I want to play. I love the way the center-backs play it from the back. They are so comfortable on the ball and when they need to defend they defend.

Surely, many Celtic fans will lament the loss of Morrison, but none more so than his own grandmother, with whom he attended the Celtic’s Champions League showdown against Bayern Munich:

I went to all the Champions League games with my gran, she is an absolute diehard Celtic fan. We were right at the front of the stand for the Bayern game. Gran is really gutted to see me leave. It was her dream to see me walk out at Parkhead to play for Celtic but she understood that Bayern was what I wanted. It was hard for the family at the beginning, when I left. But they realize it’s an opportunity I had to take and that it was impossible for me to turn down.

Morrison, who Bundesliga.com compared to Mats Hummels, is expected to join either join the U-16 or U-17 team for Bayern Munich.