John Hartson reacts to Dedryck Boyata’s comments about Celtic future

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Celtic defender Dedryck Boyata is seemingly on the move in 2019.

Pundit John Hartson has told the Glasgow Evening Times that he thinks Celtic will be kicking themselves about Dedryck Boyata – but praised him for speaking on the situation.

The Bhoys saw Boyata impress last season, and knew that he would be heading to the World Cup with Belgium with just one year left on his contract.

Boyata fared well in Russia, and returned to club football as the centre of transfer interest, with clubs hoping to take advantage of his contract situation.

Fulham failed with one bid for Boyata, and the defender even made himself unavailable for the Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens as he attempted to force a move away.

Nobody got what they wanted, as Celtic couldn’t made the Champions League group stage, and Boyata didn’t get his move away, meaning his contract is winding down quickly.

Boyata will be able to sign a pre-contract with another club in January, meaning Celtic are set to lose their star centre back for nothing, barring a shock turnaround.

Earlier this week, Boyata told the Glasgow Evening Times that ‘whatever happens next, happens next’ as he remained non-committal on a potential stay with the club, adding that he isn’t supposed to talk about the summer situation.

Now, pundit and former Celtic striker Hartson has suggested that Boyata is in a position of power ahead of the January transfer window, with Celtic no doubt ‘kicking themselves’ at how the saga has played out having rejected Fulham’s £9million offer, but did add that he respects Boyata for coming out and speaking himself rather than hiding behind his agent.

“Dedryck Boyata has got Celtic by the short and curlies now,” said Hartson. “The defender holds all the aces as he looks towards the January window and runs down his contract. And I think Celtic will be kicking themselves for the way the Boyata situation has played out. I was pleased to hear the defender speak on his situation because I think it is far too easy for players to go and hide behind their agent. But I suspect that when Fulham came in with the £9m for him in the middle of August that Celtic banked on the player getting them through the qualifiers and a team coming in for him at the last minute with a bigger bid. Neither transpired and, of course, no-one could really have predicted that Boyata would throw the toys out of the pram in the way that he did,” he added.