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News
Pundit says Brendan Rodgers ‘clearly’ doesn’t think 23-year-old Celtic player is good enough
With much of the transfer headlines surrounding Celtic centering around their lack of activity in the transfer market in January, it is one piece of business they did in the summer that has many people baffled.
The signing of Gustaf Lagerbielke was one of Celtic’s most expensive transfers last summer and one that was meant to mitigate the loss of Carl Starfelt to Celtic Vigo.
But after just nine appearances and 571 minutes in a Celtic jersey and the fact that Rodgers was willing to let him leave, Lagerbielke is clearly not rated by the Hoops gaffer.
Pundit, Hugh Keevins, was running the rule over the Celtic defence and labelled it Rodgers’ ‘biggest problem’ when he said Lagerbielke is simply not fancied by the Hoops gaffer.
Keevins said [], “But the problem for me now, in the weeks ahead, has everything to do with what’s going on at the back.
“Carter-Vickers out for three weeks, you never know what these things. Nawrocki, I think, rejected by Brendan Rodgers today.
“Lagerbielke kept at the club because of the Carter-Vickers injury situation but clearly not rated by the manager.
“Stephen Welsh is in there, Scales is in there and you’ve got a problem at fullback with no Greg Taylor.
“That is going to be, for me, the big problem for Celtic at the back.”
Gustaf Lagerbielke’s incredible Celtic story
A summer transfer move that promised so much, but in the end, delivered so little, the story of Lagerbielke’s Celtic career is just bizarre.
Trumpeted as the man who could replace Starfelt, the 23-year-old didn’t have the best of starts after making his debut in the disappointing 0-0 draw with St Johnstone in August.
A Glasgow Derby debut in the 1-0 win at Ibrox showed the best and the worst of the defender as he was almost caught cold by Cyriel Dessers.
The Swede was dispossessed which allowed Dessers to slip Kemar Roofe through to score what could have been the opener. VAR intervened and said Lagerbielke was fouled and the goal was chalked off.
And for the rest of the game, Lagerbielke looked solid enough.
He then featured in three back-to-back wins over Dundee, Livingston and Motherwell but it was his Champions League debut where it all fell apart for Sweden’s Defender of the Year.
A red card left Celtic high and dry and the Scottish Champions fell to a 2-0 defeat after looking comfortable in Rotterdam for much of the match.
Since then, Lagerbielke hadn’t been seen until he popped up in the final Champions League group game against the Dutch club where his goal ended an incredible ten-year winless spell in Europe’s top competition.
However, Lagerbielke has been deemed not good enough and was told he could leave in January. Will the Swede ever be able to revive his Celtic career? Not as long as Brendan Rodgers is around, it seems.
In other news, Pundit now delivers his honest verdict on Adam Idah’s Celtic debut at the weekend