DED SETON BEING BREN’S BELGIAN WONDERBOY
Boyata reaping rewards after following Rodgers’ action plan
ONE of the crueller social media remarks at Perth on Sunday afternoon came after Dedryck Boyata had turned a header into his own net.
Citing that the “real” Boyata had returned to the fray, Twitter was not slow in deriding the defender.
It was soon lost among everything else which followed as Celtic turned a 2-1 deficit into a 5-2 win, but it is fair to say that since Boyata’s re-emergence from the underbelly of the club he has looked a different player from the fragile performer that was at the heart of Celtic’s defence last term.
Whether it has been the treadmill running in the wee small hours at a deserted Lennoxtown or the time spent on the outside looking in, Boyata l ooks a far more assured performer this term under Rodgers.
And the Belgian internationalist is desperate to play a part in what could be a momentous campaign for Celtic.
The player has revealed that there was interest in the January transfer window from three other clubs.
However he opted to stay in Glasgow as he seeks to stake his claim for a place in Rodgers’ side.
“Given that I wasn’t playing at Celtic, I told my agent to look at what was possible,” said Boyata.
“But I also asked him not to give me unnecessary headaches and only talk to me about concrete offers.
“It is true, he mentioned the interest of Anderlecht, Werder Bremen and Hull, but it was never serious enough to alert Celtic.
“Especially, since I am now back in the team.
“I have two-and-a-half years left of my contract here. I have played nearly 50 games with Celtic.
“I don’t have any definite plans for the future, but I am secure at Celtic.
“It would have been nice to go back home to Belgium, but their interest was never serious enough.
“I still have my dreams in football. The one that currently occupies me is Celtic. Possibly, one day I may be able to prove myself in the Premier League.
“Today, I have never felt so comfortable as I do at Celtic. I’m getting married next year and I am settled.”
RODGERS has been credited with significant improvements in a number of players this season and Boyata has explained that the Hoops boss gave him significant areas that he had to work on.
“I have been told four points,” he told the Celtic View. “Work on my fitness, play simple, pass the ball quickly and don’t lose the ball.
“That is what I have been working on. When I got one thing right he’d tell me the second one, then the third and fourth. The manager knows everything is down to concentration.
“He told me I have the qualities but as a defender you need to be focused and when you are focused that’s when the quality of your play gets better.
“That is why he wanted me to work on it and I can see it is working well.
“For me, when the manager was telling me to do something I knew that if I wanted to get into the team, I had to do what he had asked me to do.
“Now, I can feel that I am playing differently.”
And the player believes that adopting a straight-forward approach to the defensive side of the game has enabled him to eliminate some of the mistakes.
“Everything is simple,” he said. “I am trying to get my touch down to two touches and not lose the ball and if I’m playing, it is because I am doing what he has asked me to do.”
Boyata is also targeting a return to the Belgian national side, after missing out on Euro 2016 through a late injury.
He said: “Someone from the Belgian FA watched me against Kilmarnock in November.
“I think about playing for Belgium, but I refuse to put any more pressure on myself.
“Missing out on the Euros was very hard for me.
“I would love to be back in the squad, but Belgium have a lot of good players.”
The defender, too, has admitted that he enjoyed hearing the song the Hoops support have for him – a song he heard because Kieran Tierney was singing it in the changing rooms.
“KT was singing it,” he smiled. “If you saw how the year was ending last season then I wouldn’t have expected that but I’m taking every single moment right now and I think it’s a good song.”