Neil Lennon put his diplomatic head on to comment on the departure of Marvin Compper.
Unexpectedly in later afternoon news emerged that the defender had joined Duisburg ending a bewildering 18 month stay at consisted of 83 minutes of first team action.
Very quickly it was clear that the imposing, experienced central defender that had been signed from RB Leipzig to answer a multitude of problems wasn’t exactly what had been anticipated.
An injury picked up during the winter break in Dubai set back his debut, Kris Ajer started to emerge as did the rumours as the German settled into life in Glasgow’s west end and one of the top salaries at Celtic.
When Lennon took over from Brendan Rodgers there was a brief window of hope for the now 34-year-old but that closed quickly ahead of yesterday’s news.
“He got a player-coaching job at Duisburg but that one was probably best for both parties,” the Celtic boss told The Sun. “He wasn’t going to fit in our plans so it was best he moves on and we can fill a gap now.”
Over the course of a week Youssouf Mulumbu and Compper have been removed from the club. Although pay offs will have been involved it helps to draw a line under a couple of disastrous transfer windows and clears a little space in the top team squad.
Maybe soon we will find out why it all went wrong for Compper but for now he’ll have to settle for the tag of being Rodgers’ most ineffectual signing.
