Dedryk Boyata has been called up for the Belgium squad today. I am delighted for him, as every Celtic fan should be. He is having an excellent season so far. He deserves this, and he deserves the new contract Brendan and the board are ready to offer him.
He is one of the most improved players at Celtic Park; indeed Brendan rates him as our number one choice central defender, and it’s hard to argue with that. He has been solid. He has played in most of our important game and you can count on your one hand how many mistakes he’s made in that period. There are not many of them.
On Tuesday night, Dedryk Boyata made one against Bayern Munich and it was a costly one.
Sadly, that’s the defender’s curse; their mistakes are invariably highlighted over and over again because they tend to lead to more serious consequences than players in other parts of the pitch, and I still think we’d have avoided problems had the keeper not rushed out.
The kid has come on leaps and bounds, and international recognition is good for him and it’s good for Celtic as well.
This stupid idea that our players won’t get to play for their countries, if they are top nations, because of where they play their domestic football is one that ought to be shot full of holes. It is just a shame that Moussa missed out this time.
Dedryk is getting recognition now, and it’s due to him.
When he was called up for Belgium’s squad in March this year the Scottish press did a disgusting hatchet job on him by digging up a complete unknown – Eddy Snelders – to criticise the decision. This is their rank level. This time there are no such dissenting voices.
Dedryk will shortly become the latest player at our club to sign an extended deal; the manager has serious intentions and they involve keeping this squad together for a while.
Boyata is a big part of those plans.