STYLIAN Petrov turned up at Celtic without a word of English to his name, no friends, a homesickness that could have felled a horse, stuck in a flat far too big and lonely for him and a backside that could blank out the sun.

The club had paid £2.2m, a big free then, for the 19-year-old who, as he has admitted many times since, believed in those testing first few months he had made a big mistake.

There was, however, at least one new team-mate who didn’t need long to be convinced that the shy Bulgarian was destined to one day become Celtic’s best player.

That early admirer was non-other than Lubo Moravcik. Already a Celtic legend, this was a man who knew a footballer when he saw one and Petrov ticked all the boxes.

The supporters didn’t see it for a while. Indeed, it was only towards the very end of that debut season, firstly under John Barnes and then Kenny Dalglish, when Petrov began to show signs that his signing hadn’t been another mistake by that particular error-strewn regime.

Once Martin O’Neill arrived in the summer of 2000, Petrov quickly became one of the Irishman’s first picks and the two went on to win three leagues, a treble, double and reach the 2003 UEFA Cup final. It was a long way from the lad who hardly said a word when training at Barrowfield.

“Once Stan settled down a bit, I would tell him that he could go on to be the best player at Celtic,” revealed Moravcik. “I would say this to him all the time, particularly when I was coming towards the end of my time in Scotland.

“And I think that when he left many years later, Stan was Celtic’s best player.

“When Stan first came to Celtic, he was so young and didn’t have any English. He was really quiet, very shy and I know there were people who doubted whether he would make it. The fact we were not a settled team didn’t help him.

“But I could see in training that he had it in him to be a great player. He needed to get fit and used to Scottish football but by the end of that first season he had scored a few goals and the fans started to see why he had been such an expensive signing.

“Stan is probably one of the most popular players Celtic have had. He was a brilliant team-mate and a really good person.”

Petrov could have left. That first season was a bit of a car crash. He ended up at right-back on THAT night against Inverness Caley Thistle and rarely got the chance to play as a box-to-box midfielder – which is how he made his name in the first place.

He revealed only recently who he’s run up a phone bill of £6000 – a lot of money to him then – from phoning home Bulgaria and his then girlfriend and now wife Paulina. Celtic back then were not great at looking after their foreign players.

O’Neill did many great things at Celtic and without question one of his strengths was getting the best out of players who had lost their way.

“Martin was a big influence on Stan,” recalled Moravcik. “He was the perfect manager for him. The two met at the right time.

“All of a sudden, Stan was scoring goals, he was getting all over the park and had become vocal. He scored in the 6-2 Old Firm game and, for me, that was the game which really got him going at Celtic.

“He needed a bit of confidence and Martin had a fantastic way of making you feel good.”

Moravcik will be at Celtic Park tomorrow afternoon for Petrov’s charity game. There was no way he was going to miss it.

We all know what Petrov, a genuinely nice bloke, has gone through and the way this leukaemia survivor has come through an illness which came close to taking his life and has raised millions over the last five years.

He is an incredible human being.

However, Petrov’s playing career should not be forgotten about and the man himself is keen to be remembered as a good player. He was a bit more than that.

“I remember watching him playing against Barcelona at Celtic Park when we won 1-0 and he was the best player on the park,” said Moravcik,

“I am sure Andres Iniesta played that night (he did) but it was Stan who looked as if he really belonged at that level. On our first Champions League match, he scored a superb free-kick against Juventus in Turin and he had just come back from a broken leg.

“It was great seeing him grown into being a superb footballer and I just wonder what might have happened had he not got ill.”

Petrov is a Celtic legend. Make no mistake about that. He was a key member of the O’Neill team and should have been made captain by Gordon Strachan when instead, at least this is how Petrov felt, he was politely shoved towards the door.

That is all water under the bridge. Celtic Park will be full because one of their own is coming home.

“Stan will get a great reception because the fans love him and he loves then,” said Moravcik who is certain for a warm reception himself given how much this little genius is worshipped around these parts.

“It was awful to see him so ill but the way he has rebuild his life shows what a strong man he is. It’s why we all love him.”

Moravcik saw something special in Stylian Petrov 18 years ago. He has been proven right.