I don’t mind agents trying to do their best by their client, especially if that player only has twelve months left on their current deal.

But Dedryck Boyata’s agent hasn’t really done that this summer, in my opinion.

The Belgian defender had a very decent World Cup and has had plenty of interest in him on that back of those good performances. His agent claims that Celtic have failed to live up to certain ‘promises’ and that the Scottish Premiership champions have also rejected, or sat on, various bids for the defender.

He followed it up by saying:

“It’s strange, because on the other hand, the club apparently does not have the money to make Dedryck a dignified new contract proposal.”

Now what Boyata’s agent, Mr Jacques Lichtenstein, fails to mention is that Celtic are perfectly within their right to hold onto the player for another year. In fact, the Glasgow club could be extremely petty and let the twenty-seven year old rot in the reserves for a season, thus making Jacques job in flogging his player harder next summer.

The agent should’ve played the whole thing differently and made things clear from the start.

After the World Cup, he could have wheeled Boyata out to do an interview with the Belgian press saying that he’s loved his time at Celtic but he feels the time is right for a new challenge and that he’s not interested in signing a new deal.

Going public after the English Premier League transfer window shuts is just bizarre because it restricts your clients chances of earning big bucks in the filthy rich English top flight.

It actually makes people wonder if Mr Lichtenstein is coming out now in a desperate bid to flush out potential buyers, who may or may not be interested.

For Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers, it’s a headache he doesn’t need and he’ll now ask himself if he can trust the player.

The Hoops could’ve done with the centre-back against Hearts last weekend and they could certainly be doing with him tonight as they face AEK Athens, away in Greece, in a make or break Champions League second leg qualifying tie.

Boyata has declared himself unfit and not able to play, due to a hamstring problem. Now the problem with that is that a significant amount of Celtic supporters won’t believe him after his agent’s recent outburst to the media.

Some of the fanbase could see it as the player throwing his toys out of the pram.

Although the twenty-seven year old has come out to state that is definitely not fit:

“Unfortunately, I could not play because I’m not yet 100% operational,”

With only twelve months on his contract, Celtic would be better off just selling the central defender if they get a reasonable offer in for his services. I’d also demand that Boyata hand in a transfer request and forfeit any loyalty clause that he may be due.

If Celtic get around £7m-£8m for Dedryck, then they could easily find an adequate replacement and one that will at least want to play for the club.

In truth, Boyata hasn’t been the most reliable of players during his time at Celtic Park. The Belgian international has suffered from various injuries during his time in Scotland and missed around 56 games for The Hoops due to injury issues. Then it always takes Dedryck time to get back to full fitness and when he’s back in the starting eleven he’ll go through a few games that are erratic to say the least.

Make a profit from the former Manchester City man and bring in a committed centre-half, that would be my advice.

Posted on August 14th, 2018 by scott
Filed under: Article