Scottish Premiership champions Celtic pulled out of a deal to sign Rivaldo Coetzee last summer after the defender’s injury issues were uncovered.
If Celtic’s medical staff had not discovered an issue with a bone in Rivaldo Coetzee’s foot, the South African defender would now be gearing up for his second season in Scotland having won the domestic treble in his debut campaign.
Instead, however, Coetzee’s £800,000 move to Parkhead from Ajax Cape Town fell through at the eleventh hour this time last year after he failed a medical. This was a cruel blow for a promising 21-year-old who was described by Brendan Rodgers as an ‘outstanding player’.
And the last 12 months haven’t exactly been kind to the modern, ball-playing Coetzee. He moved to Mamelodi Sundowns a few weeks after being denied a switch to Celtic but he has not played a single game since.
The Scottish Sun reported in April that Coetzee was in danger of being forced to retire with his Sundowns boss admitting: “Rivaldo is a sad story. I have not seen him kicking a ball since he joined us. We are consulting every day and people are saying they have never seen anything like this.”
At long last, however, things are looking up for Coetzee. The Daily Record claims that the 23-time international has finally returned to training after 12 months on the sidelines and is belatedly set to make his debut for the club he joined last September.
But Celtic fans would be forgiven for wondering what might’ve been. If he’d stayed fit, would Coetzee be the lynchpin of their backline right now?
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