Boli’s back! Or at least it appears he soon will be, with the news Boli Bolingoli’s loan move to Russian club FC Ufa has fallen through due to the player being unable to secure a work visa due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The Celtic left back may well be returning to Glasgow now for the remainder of the season, however. it won’t be a short-term visit, as the players contract runs out in June 2023. And although it’s safe to say Celtic won’t be entering into negotiations to extend that deal it still leaves Celtic with a player on the books, picking up a healthy wage and unlikely to see much in the way of first team action.
After all a spell at Celtic where he failed to convince two managers or many of the support as to his abilities to play a consistent role for the Hoops, coupled with his infamous decision to fly to Spain, breaking strict Covid protocols at the same time, has left the player with a reputation that is now likely beyond repair.
Just last month FC Ufa confirmed the agreement of the loan deal stating as reported by Glasgow Times– “FC Ufa and Celtic have agreed on a deal to loan left winger Boli Bolingoli. The loan agreement is calculated until the end of the season.”
From there Bolingoli headed to Turkey to meet up with his new teammates at their winter training camp and despite being photographed in a Ufa shirt, it appears, having remained in the training camp since, that Bolingloi won’t get to wear the Ufa shirt in any competitive action.
It’s likely this deal fell through due to diplomatic relations between the UK and Russia being somewhat strained due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and as such a work permit not being something likely to be sanctioned in the circumstances.
Celtic will no doubt try and either reach an agreement to terminate the players contract, as they did with Olivier Ntcham in the summer, or hope to find an alternative loan deal for next season. In the meantime, however Boli Bolingoli will return to Celtic with only the slightest chance of playing any part in Celtic’s title run-in.
Niall J
