Boli Bolingoli was Celtic's 'best player' against Livingston and has earned a start against Dundee United, Frank McAvennie has told Football Insider

The lowdown

Prior to last weekend, Bolingoli's last action for Celtic had come in August 2020, when he made a three-minute substitute appearance against Kilmarnock.

The Hoops loaned him out to Turkish Super Lig outfit Istanbul Basaksehir after he broke coronavirus rules and 'left club officials furious' (via Sky Sports).

But Postecoglou restored him to the starting line-up for the 1-0 defeat at the Almondvale Stadium.

Having picked up a yellow card, he earned a SofaScore rating of 6.9/10. He won seven of his 13 duels and completed 85 of his 90 attempted passes.

Celtic will be looking to gain ground against Dundee United on Sunday, having slipped to sixth place in the Premiership table.

The latest

McAvennie says Bolingoli's performance was one of the few positives he was able to take from Celtic's loss.

He admired the Belgian's commitment and reckons he has the edge on competitor Greg Taylor when it comes to the defensive side of the game.

"I will be honest, Bolingoli was the best player in that Celtic team, solid," he said. "He defended really well. He was the only bright spark.

"I always liked him when he was playing, he is a better defender than Taylor.

"He was putting himself about and getting stuck in, that’s saying something because Celtic were awful.

"I think he has to start again this weekend."

The verdict

Bolingoli was an unused substitute for Thursday's cup win against Raith Rovers, with Adam Montgomery lining up at left-back. That could indicate that he was being rested with one eye on the weekend.

Perhaps the real indicator of Ange Postecoglou's preferences will come in the week when Celtic face the trickiest fixture of the campaign so far - a Europa League group stage clash with Bayer Leverkusen.

Even if Bolingoli doesn't make the cut, rotation in and around those fixtures should ensure he gets a decent number of minutes.

In other news, Celtic fans should read this intriguing Jack Wilshere claim.