Should Celtic be worried as Kundai Benyu’s Oldham loan falters?

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Scottish Premiership giants Celtic would have hoped that a loan spell at League One Oldham Athletic would give Kundai Benyu the springboard he needed.

Celtic loaned Kundai Benyu to Oldham Athletic at the start of January to give him the game time he was struggling to obtain at Parkhead.

The Scottish Champions pulled off a real coup landing the highly-rated midfielder from Ipswich Town despite interest from Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham and Aston Villa, as reported by the Scottish Sun.

But the 20-year-old was not given much of a chance to prove his credentials north of the border. He played just one league game, a 2-0 win at Kilmarnock in August, before heading out to Boundary Park for the rest of the season.

Although things have not really gone to plan for Benyu at Oldham so far. Richie Wellens’ Latics are in the midst of a disastrous run of form and their on-loan number seven appears to have been affected more than most.

Benyu has now been an unused sub in each of Oldham’s last two fixtures and already appears to have fallen out of favour after making just two starts in League One. In Benyu’s most recent outing, the 3-0 battering at Peterborough in late January, he was subbed off on the hour.

The Zimbabwe international told the Standard in January that he was assured of getting plenty of game time south of the border if he worked hard and proved himself on the training pitch.

But it does not bode well for this once sought-after talent that he has been dropped to the bench after just a few weeks in English football’s third tier.