Boli Bolingoli’s had a varied start to his Celtic career but has opened up in The Evening Times about how he believes fans can now expect to see the real player the Parkhead club paid £3m for.
Early struggles
The full-back has had mixed reviews so far with The Herald going as far to suggest that he isn’t even really a left-back. Bolingoli’s loose pass in the Champions League qualifier against Sarajevo led to Celtic conceding a goal and many were concerned about his defensive ability.
Bolingoli now feels that he is settling into life at Parkhead where initially he didn’t feel his confidence and body language was a positive as it should be, now though, he can concentrate on his football and kick on after the international break.
Kieran who?
It’s not easy to replace a man who left for a national record transfer fee, when Kieran Tierney left for £25m to join Arsenal in the summer he left a huge whole in the Celtic defence.
Boli Bolingoli was the man to fill that gap and as already mentioned he struggled to start off with. However, he has since racked up solid performances against AIK in the Europa League and more importantly in the season’s first visit across the city to Ibrox. Bolingoli was rated at 8/10 by The Sun giving him his highest rating of the season, a much needed vote of confidence in the toughest fixture of the season so far.
Although Celtic bought Greg Taylor from Kilmarnock on the last day of the transfer window it looks as though Bolingoli has cemented himself as the first choice left-back with such commanding performances in difficult games. Celtic could be faced with a sixty game season so having an able deputy was always going to be required after experimenting with Callum McGregor v Cluj in the Champions League qualifiers proved unsuccessful.
The main thing is, it is now clear that despite his early struggles Bolingoli has settled into life at Parkhead and in the process has saved the club a small fortune. A solid left-back and £22m in the bank, a good piece of business all round.
