Josip Juranovic has opened up on his Celtic transfer exit insisting he was "a bit sad" that the Hoops never tried harder to keep him.

The Scottish champions accepted a reported offer of up to £10million from Union Berlin for the 28-year-old in January, whose World Cup performances sparked a wave of interest.

Juranovic loved life at Celtic, and despite now being happy in the Bundesliga, the full-back was emotional as he ended his stint in Glasgow.

He told the Daily Record: “I had a really good relationship with the fans. I really loved it. It was a tough time to move way, but that’s life. I was a little bit sad Celtic didn’t try to keep me as a player there. But that is football. You can’t know your future.

“I spoke with Ange one week before I moved. We always had an honest conversation between us. He is a good coach – a really good coach and I tried to keep him informed. My 18 months there was unbelievable. What can I say about Celtic? It’s one true love.

“I didn’t think a lot about my situation because first I had the World Cup and I was concentrating fully on that. Then I was reading some news that I would be going to, I don’t know, Man United, Chelsea and so on.

"But we need to be realistic. This was the right move for me from my side. In my career I haven’t ever jumped two steps ahead. I am always going one step then one step, upgrading my career. I want to play football and that is the main reason why I am here.”

Juranovic also opened up on Celtc signing Alistair Johnston during the World Cup with the Canadian being labelled as a replacement for the Croatian.

He added: “To be honest I was a little bit surprised because I was playing in the World Cup and preparing for my next game. Some of my friends called me and said they’d signed a new full back, what’s your opinion about that. I was just putting it to the side and concentrating on the World Cup, as it’s the biggest stage in football and I wanted to perform well. In my mind I was thinking, we would have three full backs and someone will be on the bench and someone in the stands with their family.

“I knew I would maybe not play two games in a row and maybe play the third one. I didn’t like some of that stuff – because of the national team. If you are not playing regularly for your club, you won’t get called up for the national team. That’s the main reason why I left.”