“You just have to focus on what you can control and try to develop,” Gustaf Lagerbielke…
One of the main mysteries of Celtic’s recruitment in recent times has been the signing of Gustaf Lagerbielke. The Swedish international was brought in from Elfsborg in the Allsvenskan for £3 million and has barely made the matchday squad, never mind play games since that early spell when Brendan Rodgers was having an injury crisis.
It’s clear now that Rodgers doesn’t rate the centre-back, or at least he doesn’t feel he suits his own style of play as a manager. Although it has to be said, when he has come into the side he hasn’t looked miles off of it Gus, in fact he has looked pretty steady and has kept some clean sheets too.
But that is by the by now as Rodgers was prepared to let him leave the club in January up until he decided to keep him around because of our precarious issues this year surrounding injuries, specifically in defence.
A few weeks back against St Johnstone, Cameron Carter-Vickers was taken off towards the end of th or match at Celtic Park, as Rodgers and his backroom staff looked to manage the USA international’s minutes on his return to the side. Gustaf was on the bench but rather than bring him on, he decided that Tomoki Iwata should drop back instead, sending a clear message out to the player, heirarchy and supporters that he doesn’t fancy him.
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Lagerbielke has been talking to the media back in his homeland and has been revealing what it’s been like so far this season at Celtic. Although he hasn’t featured much and has been frozen out for the most part, both he and his girlfriend have enjoyed staying in Scotland.
Speaking to Aftonbladet, the big defender said: “It’s not like in Sweden, you can’t have that close contact with the manager, so it’s just about pulling yourself together and taking the chance when you get it.
“You just have to focus on what you can control and try to develop. It can be tricky to keep motivated, but I feel in the best form I’ve ever been so I just want show what I can do and how good I am. At the end of the day, there is only one person’s opinion that’s important, deciding if you play or not.”
Even in light of his failure to impress the manager enough since moving abroad, he has still maintained his focus and revealed that he has learned from the experience, also adding that he’s got a new hobby with fellow Celt, Odin Thiago Holm.
He continued: “It’s been educational, it might sound like a cliche when you move abroad. Some real ups and downs. Some real highs, probably some of the highest peaks of my career, but also some lows with little playing time. So both good and bad from a football perspective, but off the pitch it’s been great, we really like it here.
“Away from the football, we take advantage of living somewhere else, not many people get the opportunity to live in a different country. It rains quite a lot here in Scotland so we haven’t spent that much time outdoors but we’ve been to the Highlands and visited a couple of castles.”
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His other half, Gerendas, interjected and revealed that Gus’ new favourite past time is to build structures from Lego. She said: “One of the first things I could think about that we’ve done away from the football is building lego.” Meanwhile, Lagerbielke responded to the revelation, saying: “I have to blame (Odin) Holm for that. At his house, he’s got a whole wall filled with lego! So we blame it on him, been a bit influenced.”
It’s hard to see Gustaf Lagerbielke having much of a future at Celtic beyond this season as clearly he is not in the manager’s plans. Hopefully he gets a decent move, perhaps to Italy, and he will go with the Celtic support’s but wishes.
Paul Gillespie
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Who are you trying to convince here? Lagerbielke is an absolute waste of space and should never have been signed in the first place! This guy is like a young Starfelt! With the ball at his feet, he is a total bombscare! He looks terrified when he has the ball at his feet and opponents approach him! He has zero confidence. He has no vision. He can’t tackle. His left leg is a means of support only, and his right has a mind of its own! He doesn’t know what he’s going to do with a ball before he gets it! He is a total bombscare!
It is ironic that he will leave us with a bit of history as the guy who scored that winning goal against the Dutch which gave us our first Champions League win in several years!
He was a huge mistake! A waste of money!