Former Celtic favourite available for January loan after being recalled from unsuccessful spell

Former Celtic favourite Filip Benkovic is available for a loan move in January after being recalled by Leicester City from his spell at Cardiff City.

Filip Benkovic with the Scottish Cup trophy after helping Celtic complete the treble-treble. Picture: SNS

The centre-back was supposed to spend the entirety of the 2020/21 campaign at the Welsh side but failed to force his way into the first-team, making just one appearance where he was at fault for a goal.

The Croatian previously impressed during a loan spell at Celtic Park in the 2018/19 season, where he made 27 appearances in all competitions, helping Celtic to the knockout stages of the Europa League and their third successive treble.

Hoops manager Neil Lennon has already confirmed that Celtic will be in the market for a new centre-back in the January window after it was confirmed Christopher Jullien will be absent for the next four months with a knee injury.

And former Parkhead boss Brendan Rodgers, now Benkovic’s manager at Leicester, recently described the player’s form in Glasgow as “sensational” as he stressed the need for the 23-year-old to get back to that level.

He said: “[Benkovic] needs to play games and at the minute he’s not playing at Leicester and now he’s not playing at Cardiff. It’s something where we need to get Filip playing. He needs to get working again and show the level he can play at.

“Thankfully for myself, I’ve seen the level. When he was with me at Celtic he played against RB Leipzig and he was sensational. Really since that first 10 games at Celtic, he hasn’t maintained a level of fitness and performance that I know he can.”

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