Celtic pundit Paul John Dykes has recently made a claim about Kristoffer Ajer and his development at Parkhead.
Dykes was hosting the latest episode of the ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Bhoys. One topic of discussion was the club’s defence and this led to Dykes talking about Ajer and how he has developed at Celtic. Dykes believes that Ajer is developing well alongside Shane Duffy and he doesn’t want the Hoops to lose the Norwegian.
Do you think Ajer should have left Celtic in the summer?
Yes
No
Milan were interested in signing Ajer in the summer transfer window and they even had a bid for him rejected. Leicester City and Paris Saint-Germain were also reportedly interested in the defender.
Dykes appreciated the manner in which Ajer has developed and he made it clear that he doesn’t want Celtic to lose the defender.
He said: “What I’ve certainly seen with Ajer is that [Duffy’s signing] has kind of settled down a lot of these defensive frailties that perhaps Ajer’s had in the past, and I think the experience of playing with Duffy is going to do him loads of good. Already, there’s been interest from AC Milan – confirmed interest from AC Milan for Ajer.
“I certainly don’t want to lose the player, because I think he can develop for another season or two at Celtic Park. We can get the fruits of that labour as well and I think he’s actually developing as a defender playing alongside Duffy.”
TIF Thoughts…
Ajer, who is valued at £3.6m, has made 12 appearances in all competitions for Celtic this season. In the Premiership, he has played nine games and scored one goal (as per Transfermarkt).
In the Scottish top flight, he has picked up a rating of 7.28/10 (as per WhoScored) and has been the club’s seventh-best performer in the league this season. It shows that he’s had a pretty good campaign so far and that might prove vital to his development as a footballer.
Because of that, Celtic fans should be glad that the Hoops managed to keep hold of Ajer despite interest from Milan and they already seem to be getting the fruits of his development.