Is history about to repeat itself for Scottish giants Celtic?
‘Get Marvin Compper out of the club’.
That will be one of Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers’s mandates during the January transfer window.
The 33-year-old has only played 83 minutes of senior football for Celtic since joining from Leipzig for £1 million almost a year ago and it’s clear that he’ll never amount to much at Parkhead. Rodgers has effectively exiled the German centre-back and there doesn’t look to be much way back for him.
Problem is, Compper is contracted to the Hoops for another 18 months, so is he going to be open to the idea of leaving in January or is he simply happy enough to run down on his contract and continue to pick up what is more than likely a very decent wage every week?
Celtic have found themselves in this position before, when Derk Boerrigter, who only managed 26 games in three years in Glasgow, stuck around for financial gain even though he was completely cast out of the picture.
Earlier this year, Boerrigter admitted it, telling ExProfs: “They wanted to get rid of me. But I stayed, and I say so honestly, because of the money. The salary was too good to give up. Celtic tried to negotiate. They wanted to give me three months’ salary. But I wanted something more and we did not reach an agreement. Then I stayed and I got all twelve.”
Is there much incentive for Compper to do any different? Well, if he wants to play football again then he must leave, but the one-time Germany international is already in the twilight of his career and appeared on German television this month as a pundit – during Celtic’s win over Leipzig, bizarrely.
He may already have one eye on retirement, which is bad news for the Bhoys.
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