The South African international eventually joined Mamelodi Sundowns.
In the summer Celtic were strongly linked with a move for South African international Rivaldo Coetzee.
It was reported by the BBC however that the deal collapsed because of a failed medical. The talented defender was found to have an underlying problem with his right foot and Celtic decided he was not worth the risk.
With his position at former club Ajax Cape Town deemed untenable he was sold anyway, with fellow South African side Mamelodi Sundowns deciding to gamble on his talent just three days later.
It was a gamble which, currently, has failed.
It seems Celtic were right to cancel the deal for the defender based on medical grounds, as he has not featured in a single game for Sundowns since making his move to the club.
Coetzee has been out of action for the entire season through injury, the same one which ended his Celtic dream.
This week, a report from Goal suggested Coetzee was now set for a return from the injury, which has kept him out of action for nearly seven months. Clearly the club are not overly convinced of his fitness though, as they have left him out of their AFC Champions League squad for the 2018 campaign.
Celtic would have paid a fee reported to be in the region of £800,000 for the player, according to Goal, and it seems they have had a lucky break and saved a fair sum of money in not making that move.
Instead, Celtic have seen Kristoffer Ajer blossom into a brilliant centre-back option this term and perhaps Coetzee’s failed deal was for the best.
Hopefully the young defender can get his career back on track in 2018 and eventually find his way to European football. But Celtic will be pleased they did not snap him up in the summer.
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