Hertha Berlin’s Sporting CEO Fredi Bobic has provided an update on former Celtic defender Dedryck Boyata’s situation at the club as the 31 year old Belgium international defender looks to be out of favour amid what looks like an attitude issue.
Commenting on Hertha head-coach Sandro Schwarz’s decision to drop former captain Dedryck Boyata from the matchday squad against Union Berlin, Bobic confirmed that the club were now looking to sell the former Celtic player.
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
“We don’t have the feeling that he can help bring us forward at the moment,” Bobic said, as reported by bulinews.com. “We either sell or he trains so outstandingly that we can’t place anyone ahead of him.”
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images
Boyata was stripped of his captaincy in favour of Marvin Plattenhardt two weeks ago and now risks being out in the cold unless he can get a move in the summer transfer window. That could have serious implications for his hopes of being on the plane heading to Qatar at the end of the year as part of Roberto Martinez’s World Cup Belgium squad.
Boyata won eight trophies at Celtic and was part of the Brendan Rodgers side that became Invincibles in 2017. However a year later he refused to play against AEK Athens in a Champions League qualifier in the Greece capital amid transfer speculation as Celtic rejected a significant offer of around £10m for the Belgian, amid ongoing tensions between Rodgers and the then Celtic CEO Peter Lawwell.
On the night Celtic drew the first leg of that ill-fated qualifier at Celtic, long-term Celtic target John McGinn signed for Aston Villa after waiting around since May for the deal between Hibs and Celtic to be concluded.
It’s clear that McGinn should have been signed and Boyata sold but the outcome was the Belgian defender came back into the Celtic side and played his part in a second consecutive Treble for Rodgers before leaving for nothing at the end of his contract that summer.
He joined Hertha Berlin and was made captain, establishing himself as a regular in that fine Belgium side managed by Martinez, and formerly assisted by former Celtic winger Shaun Maloney.
More must-reads: