OPINION
Dorus De Vries has surely played his final match for Celtic after his freeze-out continued with his absence from training today (Wednesday) ahead of tomorrow’s Europa League showdown against RB Leipzig.
The 2016 signing from Nottingham Forest has been given the cold shoulder over the last eight months and is unlikely to add to his 15 Hoops appearances given that he has slipped even further down the pecking order from third choice to nowhere-to-be-seen.
The Daily Record report that Craig Gordon, Scott Bain and youngster Conor Hazard were taking part in goalkeeper training drills during the segment of the Celtic training open to the media on Wednesday.
But “there was no sign of third-choice stopper De Vries”, who has not been confirmed as injured by manager Brendan Rodgers or any of the club’s official outlets.
The writing is not so much on the wall for the Celtic career of the 6ft 3in keeper (source: Transfermarkt) but indelibly etched for any observer of the club to see.
Even an injury crisis is unlikely to catapult De Vries back into the reckoning as he marks time on his Hoops career.
The 37-year-old Dutchman, who is out of contract at the end of the season, has not played since March and Bain’s performances when Gordon was out at the end of last season made up the mind of Rodgers in terms of the senior keeper pecking order.
De Vries has not made a single matchday squad this season and appears to have been leapfrogged by Scotland Under-21 international Hazard, who is considered by many to be a future first-team number one.
Rodgers knows De Vries very well after managing him at Swansea City during the prime years of his career.
But the northern Irishman does not appear to have a player who has played with distinction in the English Premier League, Championship as well as the Dutch Eredivisie.
His days at Celtic are surely over.