The January transfer market is still many months away from starting, but Celtic have already been linked with a move for one of their former stars.
According to recent reports, Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney has made sealing a return to Parkhead a priority for the second half of the season.
According to the outlet, the Hoops are interested in signing the Scotland international, while the Gunners are willing to let him depart on loan in order to bring him back to Glasgow.
Tierney departed Celtic to join the Premier League giants for a fee of £25 million in the summer of 2019, following a successful stint at the club.
In 170 games, he won all Scotland had to offer, including an astonishing five Scottish Premiership championships.
The Bhoys had already signed Boli Bolingoli as his replacement, but as we all know, things didn’t go exactly as planned…
How much Celtic spent on Boli Bolingoli
The Scottish club swooped to recruit the Belgian defender for a reputed £3 million on a £780,000-per-season wage from Austrian side Rapid Vienna, taking over from the academy graduate in the 2019/20 season.
He had two goals and two assists in 25 Bundesliga games the previous season, but he had also lost 53% of his duels in the league.
Despite his physical issues, Celtic chose to spend £3 million on the full-back, who declared that he intended to “emulate” Tierney’s success as a left-back for the Scottish Premiership club.
During his debut season at Parkhead, he made 28 appearances in all competitions but only 14 in the Premiership, where he provided two assists, due to a knee injury.
Unfortunately, Bolingoli was unable to progress beyond his first season with the Scottish giants, sliding behind Greg Taylor in the pecking order, thanks in large part to a big error he made in 2020.
What happened to Boli Bolingoli
The £3 million flop traveled to Spain prior to a match against Kilmarnock at the start of the 2020/21 season, and owing to quarantine regulations at the time, he should have spent 14 days in isolation.
Instead, he kept his trip private and participated in the game after training with his teammates all week, and Celtic’s next two matches were postponed after the truth was out.
Neil Lennon, the manager at the time, indicated that he and the club were “bitterly” let down by the “selfish” full-back, and that the Hoops were “livid” about the situation.
| Boli Bolingoli’s declining value | |
|---|---|
| Date | Market value |
| July 2019 | £2.9m |
| April 2020 | £2m |
| May 2021 | £1.8m |
| December 2021 | £1.2m |
| November 2022 | £752k |
| December 2023 – present | £418k |
| Valuations via Transfermarkt | |
The dud was then loaned out to Basaksehir in Turkey a month later, where he played 18 games before returning to play two matches under Ange Postecoglou in the 2021/22 season before joining UFA on loan.
Bolingoli then signed for KV Mechelen for an undisclosed cost in the summer of 2022, after his Transfermarkt valuation had declined by more than £2 million, and he now plays for Standard Liege at the age of 29 – valued at just £418k.
He was ultimately unable to match Tierney’s success at Celtic and let the team down with his attitude in the summer of 2020, resulting in a waste of the £3 million cost and £780,000 in salaries earned during his first year in Scotland.
Read more at: https://sportupdates.co.uk
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