Former Scotland international James McFadden has slammed Celtic for turning down Fulham’s offer for departing centre-back Dedryck Boyata last year. 

Boyata was heavily linked with a move to Fulham following their promotion last season. 

The Cottagers had a £9m offer turned down by Celtic officials last summer, with Fulham then preparing to offer £12m for the defender’s services.

Ian MacNicol/Getty Images Sport

However, a return to the Premier League never materialised for the Belgian, who remained at Celtic Park.

The 28-year-old has gone on to feature 32 times for the Hoops this season and will depart for Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin on a free transfer when his Celtic contract expires in the summer.

And McFadden, talking to Sky Sports, relayed in an article by HITC, slammed the Hoops’ decision to turn down the bid last year, labelling it as ‘crazy’.

It’s crazy. I think in the summer when they were offered £9-£10m, they should have taken it because, for me, it’s a lot of money for Dedryck Boyata, knowing full well that he won’t sign a new contract. 

He’s going to run his contract down and leave at the end of the season for free. I think that was part of the frustration that Brendan Rodgers had at the start of the season.

They should have sold him, taken the money. They were bringing Benkovic in anyway as a replacement. It was always going to happen. As soon as they rejected that, he made it so public that he wanted to leave, there was no way back for him there, for me.

Celtic are desperately in need of some defensive reinforcements this summer and the club may face a battle to land Filip Benkovic on loan again next season from Leicester City. 


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