Dedryck Boyata

I never knew two CBs to have as much of the ball as him and Simunovic in the first spell. Passed to each other or Gordon 50% of the game . No ability to bring it forward and when he did it was nosebleed and gave it away.

 

A good CB who lacked the mentality to play for Celtic. A sheep in a lions den.

 

Reading back a couple of pages to posts from 2022. People really did not rate him it seems.
Folk comparing him to Efe Ambrose and stuff.

He did play for Belgium at the World Cup when Belgium were rated number 1 in the world.
In fact the 2 centre halves were Boyata and Denayer. Both were our players at one time.

Point being he was the top pick for the top nation at that time so surely he couldn't have been that bad.

 

Former Celtic defender Dedryck Boyata has announced his retirement after 16 years as a professional footballer.


The former Belgium international, who last played for Club Brugge in his homeland, has called time on his playing career after failing to find a new team, following his January release by mutual agreement.

Boyata is not out of football completely, however, as the 34-year-old is set to join Gill Swerts' Belgium U21 side as a coach, as he takes his first steps into management after hanging up his boots. [RTL]

The imposing centre-back started his career at Manchester City, making his debut against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup back in 2010. He would go on to make 35 appearances for the club under the management of Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini, while also spending time out on loan at Bolton Wanderers and FC Twente, respectively.

Boyata joined Celtic in 2015 under Ronny Deila, though the defender arguably had his best spell under Brendan Rodgers, after his predecessor's departure in 2016. A threat from set pieces, the Belgian scored 15 goals in 135 total appearances for Celtic, many of those coming from headers.

He won eight major honours in just four years, including four Scottish Premiership titles, two Scottish Cups and two League Cups, though his final season was temporarily marred by a falling out between the player and his manager.

Boyata joined Hertha BSC in 2019, spending three years at the German club before finishing his career at Club Brugge.

Across his 12-year international career, Boyata won 31 caps for Belgium, representing his country at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where they finished third.