Sutton’s 2017 comments on Boyata shows why Celtic must sell defender

Follow us on Google Discover

Chris Sutton was highly critical of the Celtic defender one year ago today for a performance in an Old Firm game.

While Sunday was a triumph for Brendan Rodgers, there is no question that Rangers pushed Celtic quite some way at Ibrox and will be kicking themselves that they did not manage to win against the Hoops.

Rodgers got little wrong on the day and deserves a huge amount of plaudits for bringing Odsonne Edouard on when the Bhoys were down to 10 men and most would have assumed that their main priority would be to try and prevent the Gers from scoring a third. But he did make one bad decision, it seems.

Dedryck Boyata endured a miserable afternoon, gifting Rangers their first goal and looking out of his depth at times as some of his teammates had to bail him out.

The Belgian’s display saw the former Celtic striker Chris Sutton take to Twitter on a couple of occasions to criticise the centre-back.

The 27-year-old could argue that it was his first appearance in over a month, but Sutton’s criticism arguably highlights exactly why Celtic should look to sell the former Manchester City man this summer – as he said something very similar to the Daily Record exactly one year ago after Rangers left Parkhead with a 1-1 draw.

“Despite the praise he’s been enjoying in recent weeks, Dedryck Boyata still worries the life out of me,” he told the Daily Record in March 2017.

“Erik Sviatchenko beside him looked a bit shaky as well and that’s an important lesson for Brendan Rodgers before they go into the Champions League qualifiers next season. Boyata cannot be trusted.”

Apart from the fact that Erik Sviatchenko was mentioned, if those comments did not have a date attached, you could quite easily suggest that they were made after Sunday.

Boyata simply has not kicked on. Kristoffer Ajer has left him behind and Jack Hendry’s performance at Ibrox suggested that the Hoops have a very talented player there also, so Rodgers should now consider relegating Boyata to the sidelines again and making plans to try and sell him during the summer transfer window.