Filip Benkovic has spoken today about how he’s looking to prove to everyone he can play in the Premier League.
The Croatian is currently out with an ankle knock, but should be scheduled to return next month. Regardless of that, however, he’s been a massive hit at Parkhead so far. Forming a partnership with Dedryck Boyata, he’s been one of the signings of the season, despite only being on loan from Leicester until the end of the campaign.
The Foxes splashed out £13million to secure the services of the centre-back last summer. Therefore, it’s reasonable to think they wouldn’t exactly be interested in selling this summer. The only thing that may have given Celtic a ray of hope would be player power.
But it appears that Benkovic has stated that his sole goal at Celtic has been to prove he can be Premier League level. Speaking to sportske.jutarnji.hr, the Croat spoke of his time at Celtic so far.
“Here, I’ve played a lot of high-level games, which has helped me a lot.
“I want to make another step at the end of the season. I want to show that I can play in the English Premier League.
“But I want to emphasise that I still have to make progress. I can still do a lot of work on my game to be an even more complete player, I just need to work. I cannot wait for new challenges, I want more challenges, I set very high goals, and I’ll do absolutely everything to reach them.”
Time to put a cross through this one
Benkovic’s goals are understandable of course. He signed for Leicester with a view to bossing it in the Premier League, and nobody can deny him that opportunity with the King Power side.
Given how poorly the Foxes have performed this season, there’s no reason as to why he can’t go in and compete with the likes of Wes Morgan and Harry Maguire for a starting spot next term.
But, as Celtic fans, we all had a small tinge of hope that Benkovic would enjoy it at Parkhead so much that he would be interested in staying. Given the fact he talks about new challenges and wanting to make another step at the end of the season, it’s difficult to argue he sees a future at Parkhead beyond the summer.
That could see us having some real revamping to do. As well as Benkovic’s return, the likes of Dedryck Boyata, Mikael Lustig, and Cristian Gamboa all have their contracts up at the end of the season. Jeremy Toljan will head back to Borussia Dortmund too, showing that some major surgery will need to be done.
Of course, we could still reap some rewards from Benkovic despite his injury. He should still be available for the title run-in, and even though Celtic are now running away with the league, it will be great to see him in the Hoops again before the end of the season.
After that, however? It’s not looking likely.
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