Leicester City and England legend was offered trials by Leeds and Celtic

Leicester City and England legend Gary Lineker was offered trials by Celtic and Leeds United, the BBC Match of the Day presenter has revealed.

Lineker, who scored a remarkable 103 goals in 216 appearances for Leicester, was only 12 when he signed for the club. His hometown club.

But him being 12, it seems, didn’t matter to either Celtic or Leeds, as both were interested in the man who would go on to wear the iconic “Walkers Crisps” jersey.

Of course, Lineker was never going to leave the East Midlands.

Speaking in a podcast, Behind Close Doors, with Danny Baker, the 57-year old said:

"“I only ever had one trial and it was with Leicester.“I’d three trials with them and I scored a few goals.“I got asked to go for trials for three clubs – Leicester, Leeds and the other might have been Celtic.“But I never went to the other two because I just wanted to play for Leicester.“I’d have been about 12. I was scouted but I was tiny – I didn’t really grow until I was 17.”"

It’s hard to tell what difference would Lineker’s decision have made had he chosen either of those two clubs. Would it have affected Leicester in any manner? Would it have affected his own career? We’ll never know, but what we do know is that Leicester can take great pride in the fact that an all-time great learned – and plied – his trade at Filbert Street.

Not only did he boss the Premier League with Leicester – and then Everton and Tottenham Hotspur – but the La Liga as well. After he had won the Golden Boot at the 1986 FIFA World Cup while still at Everton, he was snapped up by FC Barcelona for nearly £3 million.

He ended up scoring 42 goals in just over 100 appearances for the Spanish giants, which was a British record at the time (now held by Gareth Bale). Lineker also remains England’s third highest goalscorer of all time with 48 goals, second only to Bobby Charlton and Wayne Rooney.