Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Ded’s head isn’t ready for action
BRENDAN RODGERS has revealed Dedryck Boyata is not physically or mentally ready to face Suduva.
And the Celtic boss, who says a move for Aberdeen stopper Scott Mckenna is now dead, is adamant he couldn’t take a risk on the Belgian defender in Lithuania.
Boyata trained with first-team squad this week having held crunch talks with his boss and skipper Scott Brown (inset) on Monday morning after his no-show in Athens last week.
However, despite being involved in yesterday’s session at Parkhead, the centre-back did not board the flight for tonight’s Europa League play-off first leg.
Rodgers said: “There are still issues around him physically. He has a problem with his back, which he struggled with last week. If he’s not right then I can’t afford to play him. I need the players who are mentally and physically right for these important games.
“Once we knew he wasn’t ready, I had to focus on the team.”
Rodgers added: “Dedryck had a meeting with the captain and myself, we all spoke about where we were at and that we wanted to move on.
“We felt if he was ready to do that and commit to our work then, of course, we only want good players.
“But, more importantly, we want good attitudes. That was something which was made clear.
“Dedryck has trained the last few days with the squad but deems himself not ready physically to participate in the game.
“I have to move on quickly and prepare the players who want to be here and are physically right.”
Asked if he felt Boyata had played his last game for Celtic, Rodgers added: “I don’t even think about that.”
Rodgers, who will also be without Jack Hendry tonight due to an ankle injury, has confirmed he’s moved onto new defensive targets, with Mckenna set to stay at Aberdeen.
Celtic had a £3.5 million bid rejected and the boss said: “Aberdeen are in a strong position. He has five years left on his deal he is a young player. Probably similar to ourselves with Kieran [Tierney], there was no way we were going to sell in this window and that was the message we got from Aberdeen.”