AS we mentioned yesterday on The Celtic Star, Dedryck Boyata, looks set to commit his future to Celtic having re-joined the squad after his two week, post-World Cup break.
Boyata has a year left on his contract and we previously discussed the nightmare scenario of the player – who has one year left on his existing contract – wanting a move to England just as the transfer window down there approaches next week.
Celtic, assuming Rosenborg are eliminated from the Champions League tonight, would be getting ready to face AEK Athens and the last thing that Brendan Rodgers would want would be to lose the player he has described as ‘his best central defender’ in the run up to that crucial tie.
It was thought that Celtic would have no alternative but to sell the player should he decide against signing his new contract.
Brendan also spoke and the moral reasons for allowing players to leave for England where they can earn 5 or 6 times the money. Perhaps he regrets saying that publicly now but the good news is that his attitude has hardened and he is now determined to keep his contracted stars at the club.
That means Boyata is staying for now – even if he is NOT signing his new deal.
However as we stated yesterday, early indications yesterday indicate that Boyata is as good as his word and is planning on committing himself to the club for the next four years.
And what could be better than having a Belgian defender in the Celtic squad?
Maybe having two!
The usual summer transfer rumour linking Celtic with Jason Denayer has already happened. Unlike many of these rumours there usually is something in the Denayer returning stories – had Ronny Delia’s Celtic side not lost to Malmo in the Champions League Play-offs in August 2015, Denayer would have been back then.
Manchester City were happy with him returning to the club where we won the Young Player of the Year provided he would be getting Champions League experience.
That all went Pete Tong, after a great start – Celtic had a two goal lead, and is a reminder not to take anything for granted tonight!
Denayer cannot have failed to be impressed with the career progress that Boyata has made since joining Celtic, and in particular since Brendan Rodgers took over from Ronny.
Manchester City won’t be hard to deal with and the player apparently is interested in a move – this could happen before the English window closes but is more likely to happen after it.
The Scottish transfer window remains open until the end of the month and by that time Rodgers should have added at least two new players – maybe three.
And another priority for the Celtic manager will be getting James Forrest on a new long term deal – all sides agree on that – plus extending his captain, Scott Brown’s contract. Again the player will be delighted to sign.
