West Brom slam Celtic boss Neil Lennon over mistreated 22-year-old

Louis Hobbs
Oliver Burke Scotland TEAMtalk

West Brom have hit out at Celtic boss Neil Lennon over his treatment of Oliver Burke.

The Scottish international, who cost Albion £15million from RB Leipzig in 2017, joined Celtic on a six-month loan deal in January, and enjoyed a short but successful spell in Glasgow under Brendan Rodgers.

However, after the controversial departure of Rodgers, who left for Leicester, Burke’s gametime decayed as Lennon put his mark on the Scottish champions.

Evidently, this blatant misuse of the 22-year-old angered many faces at the Hawthorns, with Baggies technical director Luke Dowling taking his thoughts to the press.

He told the Express and Star: “He won’t be going anywhere near Celtic with the current manager.

“We sent Oli to Celtic in good faith with Brendan Rodgers and Lee Congerton.

“There were some really good people up there that wanted to take Oli and wanted to play him.

“Once Brendan left to go to Leicester, the treatment he got from the manager that’s in place now is something we don’t expect for one of our players.

“He won’t be going anywhere near Celtic FC.

“We currently have a new manager that’s excited to start working and looking at Oli.”

Oliver Burke
Image: @celticfc

Meanwhile, the Baggies have recently appointed ex-West Ham manager Slaven Bilic as their new first-team coach, who has already expressed his eagerness to guide Albion back to the Premier League.

“It feels great to be back in English football with West Brom,” Bilic said at his introductory press conference. I would like to thank the club for giving me this opportunity.”

“It was my wish to come back and manage in England.

“Managing in the Championship was one of the challenges I wanted to tick off my list.

“It means a lot to be here. This club is a massive club because of the history and the fans. It’s a traditional family club, and the fans are very loyal.”

 

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