http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/football/doubts-remain-over-denayers-immediate-future-but-his-ability-is-clear-for-all-to-see.123214014
Doubts remain over Denayer's immediate future but his ability is clear for all to see
Kevin Ferrie
Senior Sports Writer
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Wednesday 15 April 2015
Youthful shyness, arrogant aloofness, second language communication and unwillingness to reveal too much about contract negotiations were all possible explanations for his reticence on being presented with the SPFL young-player-of-the-month award for March yesterday, but Jason Denayer's authoritative on-field displays have also spoken forcefully for themselves.
Still a teenager the Belgian central defender has even outshone fellow Low Countryman Virgil Van Dijk at club level while the Manchester City-loanee also helped his national team rise to an all-time high of fourth place in edging past the Dutch in the world rankings.
That international appearance perhaps offered an indicator of things to come as he came off the bench against Israel to help secure a one-nil win following the dismissal of Vincent Kompany, City's club captain and there is a sense that it is only a matter of time before he is recalled to The Etihad, for all that he sought to show his current employers due respect yesterday.
"I'm happy to win this award, I feel as though I had a good month. I also played for my national team and that helped me a lot," he was coaxed into saying.
"I feel that I have improved a lot from the start of the season, I'm a more mature player and my style of play is also different from when I first arrived.
"I am much better with aerial duals and that that type of thing. When I first came to Celtic I wasn't at the level that I am now.
"These aspects of my game have improved a lot. I'm also much better tactically but playing every week has been a massive benefit. Some of the strikers I come up against in Scotland are big and a bit different to what I have been used to but I have improved with every game.I only try to focus my mind on what is happening at Celtic and try to do my best for them.
"I always to give my best level for Celtic, that's what I need to do if I'm to reach the highest level in football."
That ultimately means playing alongside, if not edging out Kompany at both club and international level, but he has rightly received nothing but encouragement from his compatriot.
"He (Kompany) told me 'well done' and that I just had to keep going," said Denayer.
"I want to play at a big club and it's a dream to play at a big club but for now I just focus on Celtic. I don't think about playing for someone else at another club. I don't know if I'll be here next season.
"Moving to Celtic for the first season was the perfect thing for me to improve myself. After that, I don't know."
It is unfair to neither player nor club to note that implicit in those observations is that Celtic can only be a stepping stone to bigger and better things in the current climate and Denayer claims not to know if he will be there next season, while his current boss remains hopeful of keeping him but admits he return to Manchester for pre-season training, that there are no guarantees thereafter and that contingency planning is afoot.
"It would be a tough jump to go into matches at City," Ronnie Deila observed, after roundly praising every aspect of the youngster's game..
"He is a very ambitious boy and there is a lot of that when you are young... but I think patience is unbelievably important when you are young.
"He has played a lot of games here and if he does that even one more year then that would make him more ready for the next stage. If it was me, I would be more patient but I'm not in charge of that.
"We will see what happens but it is very hard just now. We will look for a central defender anyway, one maybe two."
