Marvin Compper. The Mystery Man Of Celtic Park.
This was a signing that ticked all the right boxes; people may have forgotten that in the months since we last saw him kick a ball in anger.
There is very little chance of him being able to turn people around now, the problems he has are as much to do with perception as they are with reality at this point and he’s been out of the game for way too long.
Compper is 33, so even if the more outlandish stories about why he’s not in the team prove to be untrue, his window is closing anyway. He hasn’t played in months, he has barely trained, he would be weeks away from fitness even if he were still in the manager’s plans.
For all his bombast and bravado in the press, this guy is just about done.
It will be a minor miracle if we ever watch Marvin Compper in a Celtic shirt again. I do not expect it. No matter how hard he works behind the scenes there are too many players in front of him, too many doubts over him, too many unanswered questions.
This guy cost us £1 million and God knows how much extra in wages.
The only reason the media isn’t having a field day over this is that over at Ibrox they wasted far more on players who didn’t make it and who they then had to pay off to get them off the wage bill. Celtic has probably already offered him a severance package. If they have, he’s refused it.
But it matters not.
This one hasn’t worked out, and he’s on his way first chance we get.