Brendan Rodgers can’t wait to welcome the pace of Dedryck Boyata into the Celtic defence.
The former Manchester City defender was injured in pre-season but looks set to return to action tomorrow night at Dundee.
Nir Bitton, Kristoffer Ajer and Mikael Lustig have all filled in at the back with Rodgers resisting the option to go into the transfer market as he waited for the return of Boyata who is set to sign up onto a new contract.
“Dedryck is certainly one I’ll be looking to keep, so that’s something we will be looking at,” the Celtic boss told The Sun.
“It’s nice to have him back. Since the turn of the year and the trip to Dubai he has been brilliant with me.
“It’s a big year for him with Belgium and the World Cup coming up. We want to build him up and help him be involved in that.
“I always like to have a centre-half with real speed. Dedryck’s been back working hard in training for a few weeks, the next step for him is to get game time.
“It’s about managing it. Whether he can come in and play the next four on the spin, I’m not sure that will be the case. But he’s certainly ready to be introduced.
“It’s a relief for everyone and people can stop writing about needing centre-halves! We can move on to something else.”
With trips to Sevco and Anderlecht coming over an eight day period after the cup tie at Dundee Boyata will certainly be returning at a demanding time.
In the first half of last season he only made one top team appearance but after the winter break in Dubai he was the regular partner of Jozo Simunovic with Rodgers describing the Belgian as his first choice central defender earlier this term.
