Moritz Jenz, was it a mistake letting him go? Celtic supporters have been asking this question since that painful Dead Rubber defeat on Saturday at Ibrox.
Big Mercedes looked the part after signing for Celtic on loan back in July. The big German scored in each of his first two games, one of them a memorable effort against Kilmarnock, although his defensive capabilities were why Ange decided to bring him to Glasgow.
He was initially seen as back up to Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt, but after an unfortunate injury to the latter in the 4-0 win over Rangers in September, Jenz was given an extended run in the team.
He took his chance and without being spectacular he was reliable all the same. Playing in all six champions league fixtures he would have no doubt picked up some valuable experience.
Moritz’s loan spell to the surprise of many was unfortunately cut short back in January due to lack of guaranteed playing time, the arrival of Yuki Kobayashi wouldn’t have helped either.
Was it wise of the club to terminate his contract early? He’s apparently received rave reviews for his form with Schalke in the Bundesliga. With a high level of criticism being levelled at Kobayashi for the way he was bullied at Ibrox, would Jenz have been as easily targeted?
Of course we’ll never know, but letting a guy go who had decent experience of our football while also sampling Champions League football in retrospect one that Celtic got wrong. Remember to his experience of playing in Switzerland and France before arriving at Celtic and earning that brilliant nickname.
I’m not criticising the signing of Kobayashi as it’s too early for that, but as well as bringing in the Japanese defender, would keeping a guy with Jenz’s experience for a few months longer not have been the smarter move?
JustAnOrdinaryBhoy – follow on Twitter @ordinarybhoy
Said at the time, it was a mistake allowing Jenz to go and having seen him play at Schalke, my thoughts have been confirmed.