Celtic fans would love Filip Benkovic to be theirs on a permanent basis, but is it feasible?
He’s only been at Parkhead for a few months, but Filip Benkovic is certainly endearing himself to Celtic fans.
The big Croatian centre-back opened his account for the Hoops in Saturday’s 5-0 demolition of Hearts – his first goal since joining Celtic on a season-long loan from Leicester City.
That thumping header, combined with his rock-solid defensive outings, has made him a very popular figure among the Parkhead faithful.
How they would love to see him in Glasgow for the long term, but is it likely? Probably not.
Leicester, who have the option of recalling the 21-year-old in January, spent £13 million [Sky Sports] on signing the defender from Dinamo Zagreb in August, before shipping him to Glasgow three weeks later.
He might not be ready for Premier League football, but it’s likely that he will be in the very near future and allowing him to join Celtic just doesn’t make a great deal of sense without testing him in England.
Not only that, but the Bhoys would have to smash their transfer record to sign him. Why would the Foxes sell for a penny less than the £13 million that they paid for him?
Even if Celtic do cough up that figure – £4 million more than what they paid for Odsonne Edouard only this past summer – Leicester still probably wouldn’t sell because Benkovic might be worth a lot more than that further down the line.
Fans of the Scottish giants would absolutely love to have him permanently, but the truth is that joining Brendan Rodgers’s side on a full-time basis doesn’t make sense on a footballing or financial level.
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