In an interview with Sporza, 34-year-old former Belgian international Dedryck Boyata did not hold back in his criticism of his treatment by Club Brugge. The former Celtic, Manchester City and Hertha Berlin defender has been out of favour for months now, being forced to train alone and not allowed contact with the first team. Boyata explained the situation ‘They want me to change in a small room where the cleaning crew keeps their stuff. I refuse. I pick up my clothes there and just do it in the locker room. And because I’m only allowed to train in the afternoon, I can’t eat at the club anymore. That way they want to make sure that I have no contact with my teammates in any way. It’s like I have a hyper-contagious disease‘.
The experienced defender went on to say how he is not even allowed to play for the sides second team, Club NXT, who participate in the Belgian second tier. He is also not allowed to take part in friendlies. Boyata was clear in how he feels about how he has been treated, telling Sporza ‘The way I’m treated is disrespectful to me. Should I feel valued because I can still use the club’s facilities? They say they respect me, but that doesn’t show in the way they treat me’.
Yet for the football team, the situation is clear. Boyata is one of the highest earners at the club and has not lived up to that on the pitch. His performances since joining from Hertha Berlin in 2022 have not been at the level many would have hoped, with him now slipping further and further down the pecking order. The side came out and said that they offered Boyata a contract termination in August, with 20% compensation of his reported €3m per year deal. However, Boyata refused that as he did not want to go abroad. The side have also stated that Boyata knew the situation all summer and that he was allowed to train with the first team and take part in pre-season friendlies to help find a move.
By September, as reported by Boyata, the club offered a compensation of 55-60%. Again, the defender refused this. His reasoning was that he would have had to go to Saudi Arabia or Turkey, while he also would not have been eligible to sign for another team until January, something he claims Club Brugge did not realise.
Now it appears that Boyata will have to see out the current situation until his contract expires in the summer. Club would clearly love to sell him, perhaps even allowing him to leave on a free in January. Whether he will be willing to take a reduction in wages to do so will certainly influence who many sympathize with in this saga.
