Oliver Sorensen has revealed he told his agent to “get this done” as soon as Celtic came calling – with the midfielder hoping to rediscover his attacking instincts at Parkhead.
The 24-year-old joined the Hoops on a season-long loan from Parma earlier this week, with Celtic holding an option to make the move permanent next summer.
Sorensen spent just one year in Italy after completing a £6.8million switch from Midtjylland last summer, making 34 Serie A appearances.
However, the Denmark midfielder admits Parma’s defensive approach did not suit his game and believes Celtic’s expectation to dominate matches will allow him to show more of his attacking qualities.
Sorensen is particularly keen to make an impact arriving late into the penalty area and has been studying Scotland star Scott McTominay, whom he faced twice during his season in Italy.
“Napoli didn’t beat Parma, but McTominay did score against us when we played them at home,” Sorensen recalled via TCW. “He has had great success in the Italian league and he is a good player.
“McTominay has great timing getting into the box and I have watched videos of him to see if that helps. He is very good at it and I can learn from what he does.”
Celtic moved to strengthen their midfield following the departures of Arne Engels, Reo Hatate and Paulo Bernardo, with Sorensen arriving on Tuesday before Joel van den Berg completed a permanent move from PSV Eindhoven the following day.
And Sorensen revealed there was never any doubt about his answer once he learned of Celtic’s interest.
“I heard a few weeks ago that there was interest from Celtic,” he added. “My agent called me and told me it was a possibility. Straight away, I told him, ‘Get this done…I want to go to Celtic’. It’s good that it happened.”
Sorensen signed a five-year contract with Parma only last summer but admits the move ultimately proved to be a poor stylistic fit.
“There was maybe a mismatch of how we played,” Sorensen said when asked why he left Parma. “We played very defensive and closed games. Parma is not like Celtic. It was more about staying up in the league. We played more not to lose, instead of to win.
“The games were closed and we didn’t have the ball a lot, I felt that I could do more if I got to a big club like Celtic. At Midtjylland I played in an attacking team, one of the best in the league, and you were expected to win and dominate opponents.
“I missed that part of football and I would like to think Celtic suits me better. You are expected to win all the games and that suits me more.”
Sorensen’s most productive campaign came with Midtjylland in 2024/25, when he scored 10 goals and registered five assists as they narrowly missed out on the Danish title and reached the Europa League knockout stages.
Celtic supporters were given an early glimpse of his attacking threat during Wednesday night’s 3-0 victory over Aberdeen.
The midfielder is now settling into life in Scotland, although the intensity of Glasgow’s football environment means he may look outside the city for somewhere to live.
“I like to be out in nature, going for walks and enjoying the outside. I don’t really like living in the city, I prefer to be outside,” he said. “I’ll be looking for an apartment in the next few weeks, so it might be nice to be close to nature.
“I’ve heard Glasgow can be a very intense football city, so it will be nice to have a place to live where you can relax and take your mind off things.”
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