Celtic legend Chris Sutton has slammed left-back Boli Bolingoli for his recent performances in the pre-season friendlies.
Sutton was present as a guest on the latest episode of the Record Celtic podcast and he discussed many things about the club’s recent pre-season friendlies. While doing that, he also talked about Bolingoli and he had a lot of criticism for the left-back.
Celtic played three friendlies in France. They were held to a 1-1 draw by Nice and then lost 2-1 to Lyon. More recently, the Hoops lost 4-0 to Paris Saint-Germain as well.
While talking about Bolingoli’s performances, Sutton said: “They’ve got a problem in the left-back area, I think, because Bolingoli, with the greatest will in the world, has been useless in pre-season, from what I’ve seen.”
Is Bolingoli done at Celtic?
Yes, he'll leave soon
No, he'll stay
The former striker was then asked if manager Neil Lennon should be focusing on incomings rather than shipping players out of the club this summer.
“Yes! And if I was Neil Lennon, I’d be chomping at the bit for that, I’d be demanding that. Jonny Hayes, that whole situation – baffling that they’ve let Jonny Hayes go after seeing Bolingoli’s performance. Do we think Bolingoli can turn it around in a Celtic jersey? I don’t think so, from what I’ve seen. So what happens if Greg Taylor gets injured?”
These are pretty damning words from Sutton and they seem to suggest that Bolingoli’s future at Celtic isn’t bright at all. He even believes that the Hoops should not have let Jonny Hayes go because of how ‘useless’ Bolingoli has been.
TIF Thoughts…
Bolingoli, 25, had arrived at Parkhead in the summer of 2019 from Austrian club Rapid Vienna. In the 2019/20 season, Bolingoli made 28 appearances in all competitions for the Hoops and had played all of the club’s first ten Premiership games as well. In all competitions, he registered four assists (via Transfermarkt).
He didn’t make a single league appearance in 2020 for the Bhoys. Neil Lennon had revealed that it was ‘difficult’ for the left-back to break into the first-team but Bolingoli was in his ‘thoughts’ till the end of the campaign.
The fact that Bolingoli featured against PSG and against Nice shows that Lennon now trusts him to some extent. So it will be interesting to see how this pans out.