Dedryck Boyata has almost certainly played his last game for Celtic, as I argued earlier this week.
Brendan may have talked about second chances but there were never likely to be any, and people inside Celtic Park would have known it. The stories were designed to make him look better to potential suitors, and it may just have paid off.
The manager has said Boyata is injured; he may well be, but he was back in full training this week and he has said he is not on strike. Yet today, when the team left Scotland, he was not on the plane. He is not in tomorrow night’s squad, in spite of an injury ruling out young Jack Hendry. It would have made sense for Boyata to be there, and his absence means only one of two things – providing he’s not “broken down” in training; either some other players didn’t want him there or he’s going to be gone soon.
Our players don’t rock the boat; nobody would if Brendan Rodgers was manager. He would not stand for it.
It would be very convenient if he was injured again … has he ever been so unfit?
I suspect he’s perfectly fine, and therefore the only conclusion I can draw is that Boyata is going to be off soon, probably to Spain where Sevilla’s chairman has already said he wants the player.
Celtic does not need the cash in order to buy a replacement, but we’ll take it.
And frankly, I do not believe that it would cost as much as some have suggested.
Boyata has never been terribly impressive. He improved in his last few months at the club, but even then was still prone to lapses and errors that could have been costly. At Ibrox he was awful, and that was a game where he could not afford to make such errors.
Brendan has played a bad hand very well here, after a stumble where we ought to have sold Boyata to Fulham in the first place. The manager has talked up the possibility of reintegrating the player in order to help us sell him. It seems, tonight, as if he has succeeded.
We’ll find out in the next couple of days.