Neil Warnock drops Celtic transfer bombshell

Neil Warnock’s transfer admission came completely out of the blue and will leave Celtic fans even more deflated in what has been a nightmare week.

This has been an absolute nightmare of a week for Celtic Football Club. In amongst all the personal views about the actions of Boli Bolingoli and his Spanish trip, someone has to stand back and weigh up the business situation and the right way forward. It’s very easy for fans and media to scream get rid, sack, sell or lend him elsewhere. In practice who will want to take him and on what terms?

That’s where the twists come in. First up is Neil Warnock who was reported by the Daily Record from his interview on Talksport. Warnock revealed that he’d called Celtic to ask about the player and his availability on loan, but that was before the news of Bolingoli’s Covid-19 breach broke:

"“I rang Celtic last week to try and get Bolingoli on loan, good job we didn’t get him.”"

Warnock was asked if he was still interested now and replied:

"“No I don’t think so.”"

Who can blame him? Understandably clubs will be reticent at taking on a player who has behaviour issues. Bolingoli does fit that description, so who would take him off Celtic’s hands?

Worse still though is the news today on social media that the wayward Belgian is finding it difficult to understand what all the fuss is about.

The Celtic Star report that they’ve heard that’s Bolingoli is unrepentant and that he doesn’t believe he has done anything wrong. Making the initial Bolingoli apology statement sound like a PR necessity rather than an honest response:

"“Remorse levels are at nil apparently.”"

That’s not going to build any bridges for the player back at the club or in the dressing room. We can only wonder what Broony and others will say if they get to be face to face with Bolingoli. It’s also not conducive to attracting clubs and managers who might want to take the player, even if only on loan. Like Warnock they are more likely to back off.

Combined with some poor performances and limited appearances in 2020 this also makes negotiating any form of deal much harder and less likely to be on favourable terms. So is this where Peter Lawwell and the Celtic board have to step in again with the huge decisions?

From a purely commercial basis, should Celtic hang on and try and negotiate good deals to move the player on to new clubs via loans or even a sale? When he signed from Rapid Vienna the fee for Bolingoli was around £3 million, it’s hard to see the Hoops getting much, if any, of that back.

Or, if the case to do so stacks up legally, should the board cut their losses, terminate his contract and at least save the wages outgoings?

There are no easy answers. The financial impacts are so severe that it’s important to get this right. While also sending the right tone in a message to others.

Bolingoli’s apparent lack of remorse combined with the limitations of attracting new clubs interested seem to indicate a need to just get it done, one way or the other rather than let it run waiting to see what might come up.