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Celtic Confirm Benyu Signing
Thursday, 29th Jun 2017 16:36

Celtic have confirmed that Blues midfielder Kundai Benyu will join them on a four-year deal when his Town contract is up on July 1st.

The Blues will be entitled to compensation for the 19-year-old, who was unable to agree new terms at Portman Road, although it's likely to be a low six-figure sum.

“I’m absolutely delighted to be joining Celtic,” Benyu told the Glasgow club’s official website.

“It’s a massive honour to sign for the Scottish champions and one of the world's truly great clubs. It’s also a great opportunity for me to continue to develop as a footballer under Brendan Rodgers.

“I’m looking forward to meeting up with my new Celtic team-mates. I know there’s a lot of hard work ahead of me but I am ready for this, I’m looking forward to the challenge and I can’t wait to get started.”

Camden-born Benyu, who spent a successful spell on loan at Aldershot last season, was offered new terms by the Blues with his contract up this summer but talks regarding a new deal broke down. Earlier in the summer, Tottenham, West Ham and Aston Villa were also reported to be interested.

Speaking about Benyu’s situation at the first day of pre-season training on Monday, manager Mick McCarthy said: “He is [out of contract]. He’s free to do, well, he’s not free, but if he goes somewhere there’ll be compensation.”

Asked whether contract talks were still ongoing, the Blues boss added: “Well, he’s not here today, so no.”

After a difficult 2015/16 in which he admitted he had shown a poor attitude, Benyu was allowed to join Tottenham’s U19s for a NextGen tournament in Amsterdam last summer but failed to impress.

Benyu, who was an unused sub for the Town first team but without making it on to the field, subsequently apologised to McCarthy at the start of pre-season training last year and was a regular in the U23s until joining Aldershot on loan in December, where he won rave reviews as he helped the Shots into the Vanarama National League play-offs.


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ThatMuhrenCross added 16:40 - Jun 29
If they sell him on for £50m in a few years, do we get anything?
2

ShropshireBluenago09 added 16:44 - Jun 29
That was tied up quick! Looked very good at Aldershot, but hey that was Aldershot. Attitude wasnt great and MM saw this. Hopefully we have many clauses to our benefit in the contract. Would be nice if our transfers went through as quick as this.
1

hoppy added 16:50 - Jun 29
ThatMuhrenCross - yes, we do. We get a lot of people coming on here moaning about 'letting him go'...
4

Corrick91 added 16:53 - Jun 29
Huws cares? excuse the pun!
No point wasting time on youngsters who already think they're the bees knees - we already have Dozzell and Bishop here.
4

rosseden added 16:56 - Jun 29
best explanation of the youth comp system I have seen is here.... http://fullcontactlaw.co.uk/2016/11/compensation-players-24-mystery/
0

runningout added 16:56 - Jun 29
Good luck Kundai
1

SitfcB added 17:03 - Jun 29
Not much else you can do after offering him a contract, so we haven't exactly 'let him go' but sure some people will blame Mick/Evans.

He obviously think's he's better than he is.... Got a bad attitude apparently.
6

12th_Man added 17:04 - Jun 29
Don't care about him done nothing here and was only at Aldershot so good bye
0

phillo added 17:04 - Jun 29
Not sure I am as dismissive as some on here about another talented youngster our academy has produced leaving before they got a crack at the first team here and would love to know what the staff in the Acadamy think when they see this happen !
I am not sure we are in a position to be so flippant with our talent even when they might be perceived as a "bit difficult" (reckon Gazza & George Best were a challenge!!!) so a bit sad over this & hope we don't regret it.
Good luck Kundai prove the miserable old sod wrong 😀
3

12th_Man added 17:14 - Jun 29
He didn't want to be here phillo so bye bye
5

Ferguson added 17:24 - Jun 29
Looks about 12 in that picture. I wonder what a motivated Rangers centre half will make of him...
2

Elto added 17:44 - Jun 29
But Kundai, you were already at one of the world's truly great clubs.
3

Len_Brennan added 17:54 - Jun 29
The lad admitted himself that his attitude & behaviour had not been the best. Without any of us knowing the ins & outs of what was happening, I don't think we can condemn McCarthy for dealing with him as he did at the time. There have been a few others in recent history, some not even young lads, where McCarthy judged it right and we suffered no loss as a result.
Benyu undoubtedly has talent, but whether he is good enough or has the temperament to make it a top club remains to be seen. He may prove to be another Hourihan and manage to establish himself elsewhere having gone somewhat astray in his younger days; good luck to him if he does. We offered him a new contract, he refused it as he is entitled to do and has gone somewhere likely to be paying him more than we could. That's the business side of the game.
5

bluearmy78 added 17:55 - Jun 29
Obviously this has been in the pipeline for months, let's just move on. More importantly when is Celina going to be officially announced!!
3

Ipswichbusiness added 18:09 - Jun 29
Shame, we can't afford to lose talented youngsters for a song.

The art of management is too manage the "difficult" ones; anyone can do the easy!

If he's good enough for the Scottish Champions he should be good enough for us but MM didn't play him.
1

BlueandTruesince82 added 18:24 - Jun 29
To mention Benyu in the same breath as Gazza and Best is sacrilege, blasphemy and a perversion of the worst kind.

In 10 year maybe. Not now.
1

richnblue added 18:34 - Jun 29
Missed opportunity this one...

Went to see this young lad play at the shots towards the end of the season instead of the drose at PR, and he is everything that made ITFC that it was in the good old days.
He wasn't afraid to run at players, did some great passes and had a go / took chances.
I'm sure it was a case of "I don't like him" from MM and "I can't see me playing under him in that system." from KB.


2

miltonsnephew added 18:36 - Jun 29
How can he not get in our team, be shipped out on loan and then sign a 4 year deal with Celtic?
I just don't get it.
He didn't go to aldershot for half a season and then become capable of Champions league football and a 4 year deal.
We should of signed him up to a new contract way before he went away to aldershot! Unless he didn't want to be with us anyway and if that was the case we should of sold then when we could of commanded a fee.
Feel this is the same as Sam Ford who went to West Ham, stop letting our youngster slip away.
Sam Ford has just been released someone we could re-sign he's on a free and could develop back in the U23's with a view of getting in the team. 🙈😱😞
1

Mark added 18:45 - Jun 29
Wow, a 4-year contract! Celtic must see a lot in him. It just seems a shame to me that we didn't get a chance to see him play at all. Bad attitude maybe, but it is a shame that couldn't have been managed as he is only 19 so hopefully would have matured.

So, that is 11 players out now and 3 in by my calculations. I hope we don't here more talk of players having to leave before others join.
2

Coco added 19:18 - Jun 29
"It's also a great opportunity for me to continue to develop as a footballer under Brendan Rodgers"

Haha. Good luck son, you've clearly got ability.
0

meekreech added 20:13 - Jun 29
Saw this lad playing in the u-23s several times. Showed some flashes of the talent he has but had a tendency to get over robust and lose his composure. Also at times appeared to lose interest and disappear from the game for periods. Sorry to lose an academy player but to my mind he has an attitude problem which has been seen in the past and will be liable to surface again at some point.
3

groovyASH added 20:56 - Jun 29
Let's face it, he impressed in non-league! He has done nothing to prove he might make it as a professional footballer, yet strutted as if he were already an established premiership player. Therein lies the problem.
Good luck to the kid- he will need it- but not losing any sleep or tears over this.
2

Blue041273 added 22:01 - Jun 29
Agree shame he's gone but couldn't see him getting a game here any time soon. Way too far down the list. But therein lies the problem. The academy boys are not getting chances to play in the first team. Until we test them at the highest level possible we are not going to realise the extent of their talents or their potential. Football, as a career for young players, is precarious and relatively short. But if we maintain a seemingly viable academy we should surely expect at least one or two players a year to break into the first team squad. This is not happening and even Andre D flits in and out of the squad in a quite haphazard manner. This cannot be good enough! How many more of the academy boys are to be sacrificed on the altar of the 'quick fix' mentality of loan signings. Example: Josh Emmanuel. Without denigrating the talents of Jordan Spence, to dump Josh was a huge statement of the regard the current management hold of the academy talent.
0

blueboy1981 added 22:43 - Jun 29
......... don't put the lad down - if he is good enough for CELTIC on a four year contract, as a youngster with his career ahead of him, he should have been good enough for IPSWICH TOWN FC.

Another youngster slips the ITFC net - shameful - but typical of our Club of today.

Far too much flair, and potential, for the current regime I guess.
-2

blueboy1981 added 22:45 - Jun 29
........ don't give us the 'attitude' rubbish - a good man Manager sorts that with youngsters. Just another excuse.
-1


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