Celtic centre-back Filip Benkovic has today thanked Celtic for making his itnernational dreams come true.
The defender doesn’t know where he’ll be playing next season (Scottish Sun). He does, however, want to thank the Hoops for helping with his international ambitions.
Benkovic earned the huge honour three days ago when he was called up the Croatia senior squad for the first time. But even with his stock as high as ever, Celtic still have a chance of bringing him back next season. That’s because Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers claimed he would want him to go back to Parkhead if he sent him back out on loan (Daily Record).
The Croat today touched on his time at Celtic, however, and had nothing but praise for the club (The Sun).
“It’s a great honour for me to be included in the squad for the first time. I have no words to describe my happiness. I honestly believe there are other players who are more deserving of a call-up than me, but I have been waiting for my chance for a while.
“I’ve had a really successful year at Celtic and I have to thank them for the positive things they have done for me this year which has led to the call-up.”
Hopefully we hear more of his future soon
Benkovic touches on a decision potentially being made once he finishes up international duty in the Sun too. If that’s the case, then Celtic won’t be hearing anything until after June 11th.
There are several other factors to take into consideration, however. Any new manager may not want Benkovic back if it’s just a loan deal. If a new man wants to stamp his own authority on the squad and put his mark on it, who knows whether he’ll value loan players?
We also have no idea as of yet whether Leicester will actually decide to loan him back out. Rodgers will run the rule over him this summer during pre-season. That offers no guarantees. Who’s to say he doesn’t impress enough to get into contention for a starting place at the Foxes?
Celtic have big Champions League qualifiers coming up in July. With Dedryck Boyata departing for Hertha Berlin, we could do with no more big losses at the back. Keeping hold of Benkovic would be ideal, but it would also be great to have our centre-back partnership in place for the qualifiers.
In any case, it’s great to see that Celtic have propelled him into international contention. Hopefully he makes the most of it this summer.
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