Why Celtic must offload Jack Hendry in the January window
Jack Hendry joined Scottish champions Celtic from fellow top-flight outfit Dundee for a fee of £1.5million in 2018. Former manager Brendan Rodgers had secured his services on a deadline-day move during the January window.
After a series of ups and downs, a report by The Sunday People (h/t Daily Record) back in September had suggested that some Portuguese clubs were interested in signing him and that the 24-year-old could be nearing an exit.
The Portuguese window for the summer was still open back then but no move materialized. In that report, it was further claimed that Hendry is out of favour at Parkhead under new manager Neil Lennon. And things are far from different for the Glasgow-born defender, who is yet to feature in a single league game for the Bhoys this season. If things don’t improve soon, it would be better for Celtic to offload him once the winter window commences.
At present, Lennon has the likes of Kristoffer Ajer, Christopher Jullien, Jozo Simunovic, Nir Bitton and even Hatem Abd Elhamed, who is a natural right-back but can be deployed as a centre-back, at his disposal.
In such a situation, things do look bleak for Hendry. Although his contract runs until the summer of 2022, Celtic would be better off selling him this January to try and recoup as much of the £1.5m as possible.
As far as the player is concerned, he is far too young to be sitting and warming the benches. The fact that he is yet to play for Celtic in the league this term is truly astonishing and it would be better for the defender to move elsewhere in search of more game time.
For whatever reasons, things don’t seem to be working out for Hendry at Parkhead but that doesn’t mean he can’t work wonders at a different club.
After not playing for so many months, it is imperative for Hendry and Celtic to part ways. Despite enjoying a decent season with Dundee before joining the Bhoys, the centre-back’s chances have been extremely limited with the domestic champions. Thus, Neil Lennon and co must not hesitate to offload him in January.
