Celtic podcaster Barry Gallagher has been talking about Boli Bolingoli and has delivered his verdict about the defender’s situation at Parkhead.
Gallagher was recently a guest on the latest episode of The Cynic podcast. While the panel was talking about Celtic’s upcoming pre-season friendlies in France, Gallagher chose to focus on Bolingoli and gave his opinion about the left-back.
Bolingoli arrived at Parkhead from Austrian club Rapid Vienna for a fee of £3.01 million, having previously plied his trade with Club Brugge (via Transfermarkt).
While talking about the Belgian, Gallagher said: “He was completely frozen out for the second half of the season bar the Clyde game in the Cup. So hopefully, with the lockdown and stuff, it is a clean slate for everyone and Bolingoli gets a chance again.
“You’d imagine there was a significant sort of outlay to buy him, he’ll be on decent wages. It would be good to see Bolingoli.”
Will Bolingoli become Celtic's first-choice left-back in the 2020/21 season?
Absolutely
I'd rather have Greg Taylor
Gallagher believes that Bolingoli could be one of those players who may benefit from the lockdown period and that it can help him get back into the first team if he gets a chance. He feels that since the club spent a fair amount of money on him, things need to work out for Bolingoli at Parkhead.
TIF Thoughts…
Bolingoli made 28 appearances in all competitions for the Hoops in the 2019/20 season, with 14 of those appearances coming in the Premiership. However, since the turn of the year, the Belgian did not play a single Premiership game under Neil Lennon (via Transfermarkt).
The Hoops boss had revealed some months ago that Bolingoli was in his ‘thoughts’ until the end of the previous season and that he was ‘in and around’ the first-team picture (via Daily Record), but admitted in March that it was difficult for him to break through with the side in good form.
This may suggest that the left-back could still get a decent amount of first-team football in the 2020/21 season. The fact that he got four assists last season from the left-back position shows that he has some promise and could contribute to the team in an effective manner if Lennon reinstalls him into the side next year.