One of the players who was heavily linked with a move to the Celtic Park during the summer transfer window was the South African international Rivaldo Coetzee. Coetzee was constantly monitored by the Glasgow giants who were very keen to rope him into their ranks. The Celts and Ajax Cape Town finalized a deal of £800,000 to facilitate his move to the ranks of Brendan Rodgers but owing to a failed medical, it couldn’t materialize.
The Hoops discovered an underlying problem with his right foot during Coetzee’s examination at Johannesburg and thus, Celtic pulled the plug. Eventually, the defender made a move to Ajax Cape Town’s rivals Mamelodi Sundowns after they splashed £500,000 to secure his services.
Initially, it was perceived that Coetzee would be out of action for at least nine months, but Sundowns’ manager Pitso Mosimane has stated that he would be back within three months.
From what transpired for Celtic during the summer transfer window, it was evident that Rodgers attempted to beef up the quality of his arsenal rather than enhancing the quantity. The former Liverpool manager lured some riveting names in the shapes of Jonny Hayes, Olivier Ntcham, Kundai Benyu, Patrick Roberts and Odsonne Edouard.
But their defence remained unsorted to a significant extent and considering their domestic and UEFA Champions League commitments, they might have done themselves a massive harm by not signing a proven centre-back.
Dedryck Boyata and Erik Sviatchenko are still out owing to their knee injury and this has already forced Rodgers into stationing a midfielder in the shape of Nir Bitton into the central defensive role. Besides, the youngster Kristoffer Ajer has also been used to fill the spot, which is a testament to the lack of the squad depth of the Bhoys. Although Sviatchenko is due to return by the middle of this month, Rodgers shouldn’t have been so complacent.
Considering the fact that he rates Coetzee very highly in his books, the manager is seemingly likely to go for him once again in the near future and Sundowns’ manager has also reiterated the same. The 20-year-old is a player of fine calibre who has already accumulated plenty of experience under his belt.
His shrewd tackling and intercepting skills are simply exemplary and despite his relatively young age, he has shown immense maturity and calmness at the back and it goes without saying that the centre-back’s entry to Celtic would automatically uplift the quality of their squad.
