Croatian centre-back Filip Benkovic was one of the undoubted successes of last season when it came to the transfer market.
The young defender had just signed for Leicester City, and was immediately sent to Parkhead for a season-long loan deal. Brendan Rodgers was the man who sanctioned the deal for Celtic, and supporters were intrigued to see what he was going to bring to the club.
Yet, almost instantaneously, he proved to be one of the most solid centre-back signings we had made for some time. He immediately came in and demanded a place at the heart of the defence. Rodgers was happy to oblige, and often paired him with Kristoffer Ajer or Dedryck Boyata.
Benkovic’s dominance in Scotland was terrific to see. He was confident in the air, and showed no signs of sloppiness with the ball at his feet. He could match any striker in the country for pace, and very rarely got dribbled beyond. Benkovic showed he’ll have it all one day, with his positioning also top-notch for a youngster too.
His clean sheet record before Christmas was also eye-pleasing. He managed to help shut out the opposition on 10 out of 16 occasions domestically.
Everything went rosy for Benkovic up until January. After sustaining a leg injury just one month before at Ibrox, he was then ruled out for six weeks with an ankle injury. That overlapped the departure of Rodgers to Leicester too, with Neil Lennon coming in.
That’s where the season turned a little for Benkovic. Lennon was keen to feature both Ajer and Jozo Simunovic for the most part. This new partnership was never explained by Lennon. One train of thought, however, is that it could’ve been down to the fact Benkovic was scheduled to depart this summer.
Boyata’s injury gave Benko extra games
Dedryck Boyata’s injury, however, did provide Benkovic with a chance to get a handful of appearances more before the season ended. He played just four times under Lennon, and only two came from the start. Despite arguably being our best centre-back, Lennon didn’t want to split up the Ajer-Simunovic pairing for him.
Yet one thing you can definitely say about Benkovic was that his heart was in it. He always showed with his post-match celebrations that he understood what winning meant to this club. He embraced the passion we all have for Celtic, and ended the season a firm fan-favourite, despite not playing for the majority of the second half.
And questions now turn to whether Benkovic will return. His current Leicester manager Rodgers said he would be open to sending him back to Celtic (Daily Record). Benkovic himself was also happy to entertain the prospect (The Herald).
Celtic have yet to make a move if reports are to be believed. Benkovic, however, is currently with Croatie at the European under-21 Championships. His future likely won’t be resolved until he returns from that.
But he would be a great boost to Celtic if he decided to make the journey back up north. With the lack of defensive reinforcements we currently have, bringing him back would also appear to be one of the easiest decisions we could make this summer.
But as it stands, we sit and wait, remembering the great year Benkovic managed with us as he became a treble winner.
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