Celtic

Boyata made poor career choice – Father

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Image for Boyata made poor career choice – Father

The father of Celtic defender Dedryck Boyata has claimed his son made a poor career choice by joining Manchester City in his mid-teens.

The Belgium international, 27, joined the Premier League big hitters from RWDM Brussels in 2006 after being offered a salary that Bienvenu Boyata revealed was worth more than £200,000 a year at the age of 16.

Following a two loan spells, Boyata quit City to join Celtic in the summer of 2015 for a fee of around £2million.

“Dedryck lost lots of time in Manchester,” Bienvenu told the Scottish Sun. “The offer he received at the age of 16 was seemed difficult to refuse – £200,000 a year? It was even more!

“If I can advise parents – do not go abroad too quickly. Take the time to quietly grow in Belgium, as [Youri] Tielemans or Dennis Praet [former Anderlecht star now at Sampdoria] did.

“Some succeed in their ambitions, but most give up, see their dream go up in smoke, and then return in a lower league.”

OPINION

It’s a fair point from Boyata senior. The centre-back was 24 when he quit City after making just 35 appearances for the club over nearly a decade. There were far too many wasted years in his early 20s when the defender should have been playing regular top-level football. He fails to explain why Boyata did not leave the Manchester club earlier. Why not head out two or three years earlier, by which point it was clear he was not going to be a first-team regular in such a competitive squad? The defender has made a big impact at Celtic and has also established himself as the first reserve to hallowed Belgium centre-back trio Jan Vertonghen, Vincent Kompany and Toby Alderweireld at international level. Boyata tried to engineer an exit from Celtic over the summer and refused to play at the start of the season after several bids were rejected for him. But he has knuckled down and been the team’s best centre-back this season, which is certain to be his last for the club as his contract expires next summer.

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