Cedric Kipre has shone for Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership this season and could thrive at Celtic under Brendan Rodgers.
Cedric Kipre has a point to prove when Motherwell face Celtic in the Scottish Cup final next month.
The Ivorian centre-back was given his marching orders in highly controversial fashion the last time The Well met the Hoops, seeing red in the 0-0 draw in March for apparently kicking out at Celtic skipper Scott Brown.
The dismissal was overturned on appeal but Kipre will still be desperate to impress at Hampden Park; not least because there is a trophy on the line.
But with Celtic seemingly still in need of strong and combative defender this summer, Kipre perhaps has an opportunity to show Brendan Rodgers why he deserves a place on the champions’ shortlist.
The 21-year-old, who moved to Motherwell on a free from Leicester City in 2017, is one of the Scottish Premiership’s most promising young defenders and has already become a cult hero at Firhill.
He was superb in the 3-0 Scottish Cup semi-final win against Aberdeen on Saturday and there were no shortage of Rangers supporters taking to Twitter in a bid to encourage the Glasgow giants to bring Kipre to Ibrox.
But Celtic look a little light at the back themselves with Dedryck Boyata, Jozo Simunovic, Kristoffer Ajer and Erik Sviatchenko facing uncertain futures, and Kipre is the sort of raw, malleable talent that Brendan Rodgers could mould into a star.
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