Mark Wilson has warned Celtic of the dangers of playing Dedryck Boyata against Sevco on Sunday.
The defender made a surprise return to first team duty on Sunday and ended up scoring the winning goal as Celtic beat Hamilton 1-0.
Just over 40,000 fans were inside the ground for the visit of Martin Canning’s side but 59,000 Celtic fans will be present to see the latest Ibrox revolution, this time managed by Steven Gerrard.
There is a 50-50 chance that Boyata will be sold before Friday but if he is still at the club he is almost certain to start Sunday’s derby clash.
A win for Brendan Rodgers’ side is all that matters from Sunday’s match but Wilson knows what will happen if Boyata makes a high profile mistake.
“I’m reading pieces with him saying he’s put his body on the line before but I found it unbelievable,” the former Celtic defender told the Daily Record. “Remember Celtic gave him the opportunity to come up here and resurrect his career.
“The club allowed him to play European football, even when he was making a hash of a lot of things. Yet, he says he’s not fit to play for the club.
“Personally, I don’t think he should’ve played for Celtic again but obviously he’s played at the weekend and scored which was incredible – you just couldn’t have imagined that.
“I think if he does stay – which I can’t see happening – I think there will be a large percentage of the Celtic support that will find it hard to forgive.
“You need to remember he’s not a Virgil van Dijk who sails through every game.
“You looked at him and thought ‘he’s head and shoulders above ?everybody’. But if Boyata goes out there and makes a mistake – say it’s Sunday if he’s still at club – can you imagine how much the 60,000 will turn on him?
“They turn on you that quickly when you are a fans’ favourite, never mind when you’re a Boyata and you make a mistake. It would be a very difficult situation.”
Wilson added: “He should leave. I was at Celtic with guys like Stan Petrov and Neil Lennon – big earners who’d been over the course but they were all team players. I was pretty lucky in that I never had any real a***holes in the dressing room. But you ever remember Edson Braafheid?
“He came into the club from Bayern Munich on loan and he struck me as someone who thought he was too good for this level. It was like he thought ‘this isn’t for me.”
