HELLO BHOYS:
Rejuvenated Sinclair only too happy to tell troubled Caulker about the healing power of Celtic and Rodgers
Kundai Benyu made his debut for Celtic yesterday as an inexperienced Parkhead side lost 4-0 to French Ligue 1 outfit Lyon. Brendan Rodgers, who spoke in glowing terms of the midfield arrival from Ipswich, also gave fellow new boy Olivier Ntcham his first outing —
KUNDAI BENYU has taken all of a fortnight to persuade Brendan Rodgers not to send him out on loan for the first half of the season.
Now the teenager, who played in the National League for Aldershot last season, has designs on convincing the Celtic manager he is ready for the Champions League.
Signed on a four-year contract from Ipswich Town, the 19-year-old (right) made a striking Parkhead debut in the 4-0 loss to Lyon yesterday.
After watching his young side, Rodgers revealed he has scrapped Plan A for the midfielder to be farmed out from next month.
‘He’s surprised me, to be honest,’ admitted Rodgers. ‘We knew he was a good player. Initially, the plan was to have him in, thinking that he can get an idea of how we work. Then go on loan.
‘But I’ve sort of changed my mind, really, over the last period of time just by watching him. I think it’s going to be good for him to probably come in and have six months right in there.
‘To see how we train, how we work, get an education in our footballing idea, see how it develops. Then review in January and see where he is at. He’s
SCOTT SINCLAIR’S story of how his love for football was reignited by a Brendan Rodgers reunion was on a seemingly endless loop last season. So many individual awards thrust the Celtic star continually into the limelight and the inescapable thread running through the yarn was Rodgers turning a career around for the better.
The life of Steven Caulker requires even stronger steering in order for the Queens Park Rangers centre-half to move in the right direction.
In a soul-stripping revelation late last month, Caulker declared all about his years battling mental illness and descent into drink and gambling addictions while trying to live up to the £8million potential and England debut goal that shot him into the spotlight at an early age.
Rodgers revealed last week that he has tried to play his part, to be there for the defender who was a colossus for his Swansea team when on loan from Tottenham Hotspur in the Welsh club’s fine first Premier League season of 2011/12. Should Caulker’s professional path now shift from self-destruction to Celtic then Sinclair could not imagine a better place for the 25-year-old to be. A safe landing in the hands of Rodgers with, hopefully, a life and career fully back on track.
Sinclair is open to informing his former Swans team-mate that a move to Celtic would be the perfect stage to be revitalised in a stable environment.
And, just in case Caulker didn’t read all about it or hear it within the last 12 months, Sinclair is happy to go over his own narrative for the centre-half’s benefit.
‘When you go on loan so many times you’re not settled as a player,’ said Sinclair, whose £6.2m move to Manchester City from Swansea turned out to be an unfulfilling experience.
‘I went from club to club not really settling in. I’m sure he looks at me and can see I was going towards a crossroads in my career. There was no better place to be than Celtic after that.
‘Once your head is right and you’re enjoying your football... there are a lot of players who perform well when they’re like that.
‘Caulks had an amazing season at Swansea and, hopefully, he can get his career back on track now. It’s about if you still want it.
‘I was out the game for two-and-a-bit years and now I’m here playing for Celtic, trying to get to the Champions League again. ‘So much has changed when I look back to where I was. The manager here is definitely the type of guy who can help him. ‘Caulks still cares and I think he still wants to be playing football. If he comes here, then I think he will be a great signing.’ Sinclair was speaking in Belfast after helping Celtic through an evening that was comfortable only in terms of the 2-0 scoreline for a first-leg away tie in Champions League qualifying. Sinclair’s header and a Tom Rogic strike settled the tie within 22 minutes and, while Linfield’s players went on to limit the damage ahead of Wednesday’s return at Celtic Park, several home supporters marred the evening with missilethrowing incidents. In the most shocking case, Leigh Griffiths had a bottle of Buckfast hurled close to him as he prepared to take a set-piece. As he attempted to clear objects out of his way to take a corner in the second half, Spanish referee Alejandro Hernandez booked the Scotland striker, presumably for time-wasting. Far greater sanction surely awaits Linfield from UEFA once a hefty delegate report hits the disciplinary department desks. Sinclair ‘didn’t see’ the post-match incident where Griffiths made his ill-advised decision to tie a Celtic scarf round a goalpost, further enraging the Windsor Park crowd that had baited and bombarded him. ‘I was walking in,’ said Sinclair. ‘All I saw was some police running out. It was disappointing he got bottles thrown at him. I think everyone was scratching their heads over why he got a yellow card. ‘No one has said why he was booked, not yet anyway. But it happened, you get on with it. I was pleased for some of our fans that they could come. They found out at midday they could get in.’
Sinclair felt that, even in cruising to victory, the pocket of around 300 away supporters were rather let down by the performance.
However, it is clear that Celtic will be travelling to either Dundalk in the Republic of Ireland or Norway to face Rosenborg in the next round.
‘It was quite disappointing,’ said the Player of the Year. ‘We didn’t play as well as a team. There should have been more goals but it was our first game and we won it. So it’s a positive note, going into the home game. Now we need to make sure we get a win there, as well.
‘It was a game that was one-sided, where we controlled it from start to finish. I thought they sat in very deep and they didn’t cause us too many problems.
‘It’s great we’ve got the win, though, and it sets us up going forward. To get through into the group stage is what everyone is fighting for.’