Boyata shows the world what Rodgers knows
THERE have been many times in the past 18 months when Dedryck Boyata would have struggled to win a popularity contest in his own household. The universal approval of the Celtic support has been no easier to find. The forgotten man of Parkhead, until he appeared out of the blue one winter’s afternoon at Airdrie last year, the class the Belgian can frequently display on the ball is offset by an occasional attraction to calamity. Events in Russia this month, however, have been the equivalent of the player serving up large helpings of humble pie to his detractors. Amid Belgium’s array of superstars — Eden Hazard, Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne et al — Boyata not only looks at home, he has been a mainstay of Roberto Martinez’s side ahead of their meeting with Japan in Rostov-on-Don on Monday. ‘He’s played three 90 minutes and won all three games,’ offered Brendan Rodgers. ‘That shows how good he is. He has everything needed to be a top-class centre-half. ‘Whatever the thoughts were on Dedryck before the World Cup, he’s added real value. ‘People will sit up and take notice of his performances. ‘His level of passing was really good against England and he did well against two good strikers, Marcus Rashford and Jamie Vardy. ‘He was up against two top players who can run and are strong and aggressive. ‘He matched them every step of the way and when you see the Belgium players, they are happy to give Dedryck the ball. ‘They trust him. They have confidence in him and that’s great for Dedryck.’ By not only making Martinez’s squad but playing so well, Boyata’s star is rising along with his market value and wage demands. About to enter the final year of his contract, selling him for a considerable sum of money would be significantly easier than finding a suitable replacement. ‘That’s the thing,’ added Rodgers. ‘When he’s concentrated, he’s a top-class centre-half and he’s at a good age. ‘We would love to keep him. ‘If you look at the value of Dedryck — he has top-level attributes. ‘Like every player, he won’t be perfect in every game. ‘But when I came in, I felt that if I could get him fit, he would do well. ‘I told him how good I thought he could be — but he had to play to his strengths. ‘He had to keep things simple and then he did well in a game against Kilmarnock. ‘It was an evening kick-off on the astro and then he sat out for a few games. ‘But when we went to Dubai for a mid-season camp, he was fantastic.’ Even the player’s harshest critics would have to concede that his displays on the world stage in the past fortnight have been mighty impressive. It’s certainly a long way from those midnight sessions in the Lennoxtown gym that preceded his remarkable renaissance. Such dedication to his craft now sees him holding the whip hand. If Celtic don’t offer him the kind of figures he believes he is now worth, someone else assuredly will. Were the matter to rumble on without pen being put to paper over the summer, though, Rodgers would be unperturbed. ‘A player naturally will have a think,’ said the Celtic boss. ‘Tom Rogic signed, Dedryck didn’t, but it didn’t change the relationship. If he’s training and working with Celtic, I want him to be the best he can for Celtic. ‘Hopefully, he can get something organised with the club because he would be a brilliant signing to re-sign, but if not, then we have to wait and see on that.’ Boyata’s is not the only situation that is hard to second-guess. French club Lille like what they see in Jozo Simunovic. Moussa Dembele has an ever-growing fan club. Kieran Tierney is in Everton’s sights. Coupled with the departures of Patrick Roberts and Stuart Armstrong, there is a sense that the squad which won back-to-back Trebles is evolving. With the chasing pack visible in the rear-view mirror at the end of last season, Rodgers knows his team cannot stand still and that strengthening is required. The difficulty in this regard is clear. So marked has been the improvement in so many players in his tenure that the cost of recruiting others of a higher calibre is prohibitive. ‘Of course we
always want to add competition — that’s important,’ he stressed. ‘If we are losing a player for, say, £20million, we’ve got to replace that,’ he said. ‘But it’s not easy because we don’t have the funds. ‘To come in over Callum McGregor, Tom Rogic, Moussa Dembele, Odsonne Edouard or Leigh Griffiths, that costs money. ‘That doesn’t mean we can’t improve. The club, as you know, that’s not how they’ve operated. It’s not how they work.’ Rodgers is a man who prides himself on his coaching credentials. The training pitch, he feels, is his natural habitat. And who, given the vast improvement in so many of his charges, could argue with the standard of his work there over the past two years? But he is a football manager rather than a miracle worker. And while mindful of the financial restraints the club operates within, the acquisition of a small number of ready-made, blue-chip signings is a matter of necessity rather than choice if the side isn’t to regress. ‘It’s two-fold, really,’ he continued. ‘We set out each year to be better and improve. ‘When you work in an industry or a sport where you work with individuals and teams, there’s always a need to improve. ‘One aspect is the players that are here. I’ve seen development in a lot of the players. I still think there’s more within those. ‘Callum McGregor, for example, I look at the authority and the confidence he plays with now to when I came in. There’s more to come from him as well. ‘I think you can look at lots of players throughout the squad. ‘We look at Jack Hendry, Kristoffer Ajer, Kieran Tierney, Olivier Ntcham, Odsonne Edouard. ‘They are all very young. They are all developing talents and that really excites me in terms of how well they can do. ‘But always with that you’ve got to be looking to bring in players to add. At the moment, we have to replace. ‘We’ve got two players out of the squad in terms of Stuart Armstrong and Patrick Roberts. They were very influential players for us. ‘So we need to replace them before we can think about adding to the squad.’