Little surprise in Ledley moving on

I remember the early days of Joe Ledley’s time at Celtic, in particular for defending him with pleas to ‘give him time to settle’.  He did settle into an accomplished midfield player but there should be no surprise he is moving on now.

Joe has managed his career well.  He allowed his Cardiff City contract to expire, making himself available without a transfer fee.  Celtic snapped him up but the leverage the player had, without a contract, was compensated by a top contract.

Is he worth a top contract?  Is he worth pushing the boat out, beyond the current top contract level?  Yes to the first question, perhaps, but no to the second, he sat on the bench when Wanyama and Brown occupied central mid in last season’s Champions League.  Celtic put a contract to him but would have known there was a high possibility it would be rejected, as the player would be able to negotiate a contract in the ever-inflating English Premier League.

If his deal goes through at Crystal Palace he’ll leave with my best wishes, both parties probably made the best decision for their own futures.
[calameo code=000390171bffb0dd3dc4f lang=en page=128 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]