BOYATA IS THE JOKE IN PACK
Wilson says Belgian should leave... before it gets worse
MARK WILSON last night branded unsettled Dedryck Boyata a ‘joke’ figure who should never have been allowed to pull on a Celtic jersey again.
Denied a £9million move to Fulham, the controversial Belgian international downed tools for the Parkhead club’s Champions League exit to AEK Athens.
Despite Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers and captain Scott Brown holding showdown talks in a bid to build bridges, the defender then declared himself physically and mentally unfit for his side’s 1-1 Europa League qualifier draw with FK Suduva in Lithuania.
The 27-year-old was surprisingly restored to the team on Sunday and was greeted by a Green Brigade protest banner proclaiming him ‘not fit to wear the jersey’. He went on to score the winner against Hamilton.
Former Celtic defender Wilson believes Boyata will not be a Parkhead player when the transfer window closes on Friday with
Sportsmail revealing yesterday that Rodgers is tracking Leicester City’s Filip Benkovic as a potential replacement.
Yet should Boyata not seal the exit he desires, Wilson fears the worst should the Belgian commit another trademark high-profile blunder in Sunday’s first Old Firm game of the season at Parkhead.
‘I don’t think guys like Scott Brown and Craig Gordon can come out and say Dedryck Boyata is a joke,’ said Wilson.
‘But you’ve got to look at it realistically and if somebody has trained but declared himself not fit to play for the club — well, that’s a joke! It’s an absolute shocker from Boyata.
‘I’ve heard people saying he’s put his body on the line for Celtic before but I find it unbelievable. Remember, Celtic gave Boyata the opportunity to come up here and resurrect his career.
‘They allowed him to play European football, even when he was making a hash of a lot of things. Yet, he says he’s not fit to play for the club? I don’t think he should have played for Celtic again!
‘Obviously he has played at the weekend and scored, which was incredible.
‘But if he does stay — and I can’t see that happening — I think there will be a large percentage of the Celtic support that will find it hard to forgive him.
‘We saw the banner on Sunday — then he scores the winner.
‘But he’s not a Virgil van Dijk who sailed through every game for Celtic and was head and shoulders above the rest.
‘Say Boyata’s still at the club on Sunday and goes out and makes a mistake against Rangers. Can you imagine how 60,000 fans will turn on him?
‘They turn on you even when you are a fans’ favourite, never mind when you’re a Boyata. It would be a very difficult situation.’
Wilson, 34, won three Scottish titles and both major domestic cups during his spell as a Celtic player from 2006 to 2012.
During that time, he recalls just one player showing a selfish attitude like Boyata.
‘We never had any real a ******** in our dressing room,’ he said. ‘But Edson Braafheid came into the club from Bayern Munich on loan and he struck me as someone who thought he was too good for this level.
‘It was like he thought: “This isn’t for me”. He didn’t really get a game for us but he ended up playing in the 2010 World Cup final for Holland against Spain!
‘What would have happened to Boyata if he’d been in the dressing rooms I was part of?
‘I think the more experienced guys would have asked him: “What’s going through your head? What are you doing? I know you want your move but the team needs you! And we’ve pulled you out of a hole plenty times when you’ve made a mistake!”.
‘I know he makes a lot of mistakes but when your centre-halves are dropping like flies — and Jack Hendry is going through a tough time — you need a guy like Boyata, who has been there and played Champions League football.
‘You can’t be aggressive with him. It’s his livelihood and if he gets a move he would be doubling his money.
‘But a lot of his success is down to the guys in the dressing room who he has then let down.
‘So you would tell him: “You can get your move but right now you need to pitch in and help the team”. The fact he hasn’t said sorry makes you believe his mind is set on leaving.
‘Boyata has dragged his price tag down without kicking a ball.’
The Boyata issue has cast unexpected shadows over Celtic Park just three months after Rodgers’ men clinched an unprecedented double Treble.
But Wilson still fancies his old team to beat Steven Gerrard’s Rangers on Sunday.
‘It’s amazing to think there’s a sort of mini-crisis at Celtic,’ he said. ‘In May, everything was rosy for Celtic and Rangers were all over the place. Now it seems rosy for Rangers, while there’s a cloud over Celtic with their transfer dealings and the Boyata situation.
‘But I still see Celtic having enough to beat Rangers and that would change the mood.
‘Then it would be like: “We might be going through a mini crisis but we’re still streets ahead of you (Rangers)”.’
MARK WILSON was speaking as he took on former Rangers midfielder Alex Rae in a wakeboarding challenge at Loch Lomond ahead of Sunday’s eagerly-anticipated first Old Firm derby of the season.