Steve Mouyokolo has left Celtic. The defender signed a season long deal last July but hasn’t had his contract renewed by Ronny Deila.
Neil Lennon brought the former Wolves and Hull defender in on trial towards the end of the 2012/13 season and after impressing in the pre-season matches in Germany was offered a twelve month contract.
“I know that, with all the injuries I had, I probably lost confidence because when you don’t play that much and get injured, you lose your confidence,” he said after signing his contract.
“I’m really, really pleased that I had the chance to come here and show that I was finally fit and fine.
“I played with Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (at Hull). We spent a lot of time together and he talked to me about Celtic a lot. He really enjoyed it here.
“I had Bobo Balde on the phone when we were in Germany (for pre-season). We had a long chat and he was just telling me that he loved it here as well. It’s a big step forward for me, it is. I’m really grateful to sign for Celtic, which is a big move for me.”
The then 26-year-old was a regular substitute at the start of last season before making his competitive debut in the 2-0 win at Aberdeen on August 17.
After that he was paired with Virgil van Dijk for Celtic’s 2-0 defeat away to Shakhtar Karagandy which left the club’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League on a knife edge.
Both central defenders were dropped for the return match but while van Dijk returned and quickly grew into being one of the most consistent performers Mouyokolo suffered a cruciate ligament injury in training which effectively ended his hopes of a new deal at the club.
While van Dijk and Efe Ambrose established themselves as Celtic’s first choice defensive partnership Mouyokolo spent the season working on his fitness making just one brief substitute appearance at Dundee United after the title was won.
Deila has decided not to offer Mouyokolo preferring to assess Eoghan O’Connell and Stewart Findlay as he takes his squad to Austria to step up pre-season training with the first match coming on Thursday against Russian side Krasnodar.
With Fraser Forster enjoying a short break following England’s World Cup involvement Lucasz Zaluska and Leo Fasan will share goalkeeping duties in Austria.