Aston Villa and Newcastle target dropped from squad, exit looks inevitable

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Jack Hendry was left out of the Club Brugge squad this weekend with Newcastle United, West Ham and Rangers linked with the former Celtic defender, as reported by Voetbal Primeur.

The Scotland international is, at least in his own mind, the finest centre-half available to the reigning Belgian champions. Unfortunately for him, Brugge boss Alfred Schreuder sees things differently. 

£5 million Hendry has started just one of the club’s last 11 Jupiler League matches since a red card against leaders Union Saint Gilloise in January. A man who captained Brugge earlier in the campaign wasn’t even part of the matchday squad during Sunday’s 1-0 win over rivals Royal Antwerp. 

“Young players develop and you have to see that as a coach,” Schreuder explains after selecting 19-year-old Abakar Sylla ahead of Hendry.

“I can’t help it. It is a choice for the team that I have to make.” 

A fresh start?

According to TEAMtalk, Newcastle United, Everton, Burnley and Leeds are all fans of Hendry, a former Wigan Athletic youngster who played just 15 league matches for Celtic before falling out of favour under Brendan Rodgers. 

A shock return to Glasgow, via Celtic’s Old Firm rivals Rangers, has been mooted by 90Min. West Ham United and Aston Villa have made their interest known too, with both clubs expecting to prioritise a new central defender in the summer transfer window (Voetbal Belgie).

West Ham will need to replace Issa Diop with the £22 million Frenchman in talks to join Lyon with just over one year left on his contract. 

And as long as Schreuder stays at Brugge – he has been tipped to replace Erik Ten Hag at Ajax – it seems unlikely that the Champions of Belgium will stand in Hendry’s way. 

“He had to leave Celtic to get game time. I don’t think he got a fair crack of the whip there,” says Hendry’s former Partick Thistle coach Alan Archibald. 

“(Rodgers) loved his pace and the way he could recover. His one-on-one defending was very good. That’s why he signed him.  

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“One thing Jack will always do is keep taking the ball and try to pass and play. But he made a couple of errors at Parkhead and continued making them. A lot of fans don’t forgive you for that.

“The manager at Celtic now (Ange Postecoglou) would probably love him because of the way he likes to play. Open and expansive.”