It is safe to say that Celtic have struggled with injuries recently. The problem has been magnified due to the fact that the squad did not have a lot of depth in certain positions to begin with. And against Livingston at the weekend, we saw the return of Boli Bolingoli to the Hoops’ line up.
It had been over a year since he had made an appearance for Celtic. The story of his trip to Spain last season is well known. And he spent the previous campaign on loan at Istanbul Basaksehir.
He is back at Parkhead this time around but had not played a single minute of football before getting the nod from the start against Livingston. Of course, Greg Taylor’s absence due to injury most probably played a part in that decision. But now, it looks like he will continue to be a part of Ange Postecoglou’s plans.
While speaking at a media conference on Celtic’s official YouTube channel and as reported by 67 Hail Hail, Postecoglou said regarding Bolingoli’s situation:
"“In terms of his future I don’t know why he’s different from anyone else here. He’s part of the squad and part of the playing group and that’s why he was selected at the weekend.“I haven’t decided on the starting XI for tomorrow because obviously we’ve just finished training. I want to see how everyone pulls up after last week’s game.“But he’ll definitely be part of the squad.”"
Postecoglou confirms Bolingoli will be part of the Celtic squad
Postecoglou has confirmed that Bolingoli will be part of the squad against Raith Rovers. That has not always been the case this season for the Belgian left-back.
While the game against Livingston did not represent a good performance on the part of Postecoglou’s team, Bolingoli did not look out of place in the left-back position, especially considering the fact that this was his first appearance of the season.
Thus, it will be interesting to see whether this could be the start of a journey back into the first-team picture for Bolingoli. At the start of the campaign, most people would not have expected it. But a combination of circumstances and his own hard work in training appear to have opened the door for the Belgian.