Celtic delighted with Benkovic’s impact

Celtic assistant manager Chris Davies has hailed the impact that summer signing Filip Benkovic has had at the club since arriving on loan from Leicester City.

Speaking to the Celtic View, as reported by the club’s official website, Davies explained the club are hopeful he can showcase his full potential with a run of games under his belt.

I’ve been impressed with Filip. We obviously did our work before he came in so we knew all about his qualities. He is very imposing with his size and he’s dominant aerially. He’s good attacking aerially as well, although he hasn’t scored a goal yet.

He’s a big imposing figure and is technically good on the ball. He can play short and long passes with quality and is a defender who can defend with good aggression. Hopefully with momentum and playing games, that’ll get him really going.

Benkovic arrived at Leicester City during the summer with plenty of anticipation but was quickly whisked out on loan to find regular first-team football.

With concerns over Dedryck Boyata’s future at the time, Brendan Rodgers was keen to strengthen defensively over the summer and snapped him up.

Benkovic has been eased into the Celtic squad since joining, but an injury to Jozo Simunovic has allowed him to break into the side, with three appearances to his name so far.

The latter could return to action this weekend, which means that competition will be fierce at the back.