By support

20th Jun, 2018 | 1:19pm

'We'll see' - Celtic mainstay refuses to commit future to Bhoys as contract runs down

Celtic defender Dedryck Boyata has refused to commit his future to the Hoops, claiming he will wait until after the World Cup to decide his next step.

The 27-year-old, who starred for Belgium in their 3-0 win over Panama, has a year left on his current contract, but is deferring all talk about his plans for next season until the World Cup is over.

“I look step by step, I have a contract for another season with Celtic” he said, as quoted on the Daily Record live transfer blog (08:44 am).

I’m here to focus on the World Cup and we’ll see the rest after”.

Boyata was a mainstay for the Hoops last season, making 39 appearances as he helped the Hoops win another domestic treble.

Football Insider verdict

This is a headache that the Hoops could well do without. It is bad enough that Dedryck Boyata is set to miss the start of the Champions League qualifiers because of the World Cup, now the doubts about his future won’t be helping. What we do know is that Brendan Rodgers is a big fan of the player, and that he considers him an integral part of his Hoops team. However, the Hoops do have plenty of cover at the back, with Kristoffer Ajer seemingly a mainstay in the side, and Jack Hendry, Jozo Simunovic and even Marvin Compper all available for the Bhoys. What happens next with Boyata will certainly be very intriguing, and Rodgers will need to have some big discussions with him when he returns from the World Cup. That could be a while away though, as the Belgians are one of the favourites to win the tournament, so it looks like this story will run for a while yet.

In other Celtic news, Murdo MacLeod has given his verdict on the future of a Hoops player

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