Charly Musonda Jr erases Celtic from his social media (UPDATE: some un-erased)

UPDATE:

Three posts have returned this morning.

We’re pretty sure he had a lot more, but whatever.

Magic!

ORIGINAL STORY:

Charly Musonda Jr has deleted an entire team from his Instagram account. Again.

You might say, who cares or why care? And you may be right. But in the 21st century, for the Facebook generation, social media is not just a diversion. For many, it’s part of the image, part of the business, part of real life, a reflection of who they are and how they are feeling. Social media and what happens on it is serious.

And this isn’t the first time the 21-year-old has done something like this. Just three months ago, when he left on loan to Celtic, he unfollowed every Chelsea teammate — he currently still only follows John Terry and Didier Drogba. Earlier this season, he and his brother Lamisha, frustrated by a lack of “deserved” opportunities caused a stir on Twitter, while by our count, he’s completely erased and restarted his Instagram at least three times, which means that posts from before 2017 are long gone.

Now history is repeating itself, if you can call something that happened three months ago history. But three months ago, Charly was absolutely in love with Celtic, the club, the history, the fans, the mystique. Now he’s literally erased them from his online presence. (There are also a few unconfirmed reports that Musonda was not in attendance at Celtic’s annual Player of the Year dinner either, even though his loan contract runs through to the end of next season ... at least for now.)

It was just the other day that Brendan Rodgers — a man given to extravagant statements — declared that Musonda was “enjoying every minute” of his time at Celtic. It was a curious claim, given that Musonda has only played four minutes in Celtic’s last seven fixtures. But Rodgers assured us that Charly’s 18-month loan meant he could take his time getting him bedded in, and that he would certainly get opportunities next season. Celtic’s financial commitment — a reported €6m loan fee in addition to covering the player’s €45k per week wages — lent a lot of weight to the argument that they intended to develop the Chelsea loanee in a deliberate manner.

Apparently, that may not be enough for Musonda. Once again, it looks like he’s throwing a strop over his lack of opportunities. And that’s unfortunate because it something that certainly at least appears as an immature, petulant act.

Professional sports are filled with stories of physically talented players who didn’t make it because physical talent alone isn’t enough. They must have a strong mental game as well. If we look at our loanees, two who say all the right things are Tammy Abraham, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and perhaps most pertinently, Mason Mount. Work. Push through frustration. Earn your place.

They get it. Musonda still doesn’t. He signed a new 4.5-year contract in December after all the drama in the fall, but his career may actually hang on how long it takes for the penny to drop. Let’s hope it’s soon.