| C | Player Pics | A-Z of Players |
Personal
Fullname: Marvin Compper
aka: ‘Go Compper’, ‘No-Go Compper’, ‘Where’s Compper?’ ‘No Compper’
Born: 14 Jun 1985
Birthplace: Tübingen, West Germany
Signed: 20 Dec 2017 (to start on 1 Jan 2018, £1m est from RB Leipzig)
Left: 2 July 2019 (free to MSV Duisburg in Germany)
Position: Central Defence
Debut: Celtic 3-0 Morton, Scottish Cup, 3 Mar 2018
Squad No.: 33
Internationals: Germany
International Caps: 1
International Goals: 0
Biog
Marvin Compper arrived at Celtic just after Celtic had lost 4-0 away to Hearts, which ended a 69 game UK record unbeaten run of domestic games. There had been concerns over the current stalwarts in Central Defence, especially after the major defeats in the Champions League over the past two seasons, and Marvin Compper was seen as an experienced head needed to help out the developing players.
He soon after was injured after arriving and ended playing next to no role with the first team. He played his one and only game in March 2018 in a 3-0 Scottish Cup victory over lowly Morton. With the emerging talent of Ajer, Compper wasn’t fully needed but as the centre of defence was seen as a big weakness at Celtic, he was thought to be part of the solution.
When the new season started, he was often not even in the squad let alone the first team. Some wits were humouring if Compper actually existed or not. With no word at all from Compper or anyone close to him, it just became even curiouser.
His absences appeared to say that he was a big part of the problem. Celtic’s defence needed experience and an older cool head to help out, which is why Compper was brought in. So, what exactly was going wrong?
In August 2018 in a key 2nd leg game v AEK Athens in the Champions League qualifiers, this was the kind of game that Compper was brought to Celtic for in the first place. Celtic were in deep need of help as the problems with the central defence seemed to never end: Boyata effectively on a huff & on strike, Ajer suspended, and both Simunovic & Hendry not convincing.
So really, Compper as a veteran Bundesliga player who made the fringes of the Germany team, should have been the commanding presence in the middle of our defence. No Virgil van Dijk but a steadying hand. He came in January so by mid-August he would have time to bed in. He wasn’t even in the squad, and Celtic went on to lose the match.
With Compper ending up playing just one game in 8 months, Brendan Rodgers was stuck, and the support believed the board wouldn’t let him correct this mistake with a new signing, but they had to.
It hadn’t worked out, but Rodgers doesn’t have a crystal ball although his reputation was hit. The history of football is filled with stories of purchases made by famous teams and managers with bags of money that looked good but then didn’t pan out. For example, Alex Ferguson splashed out huge amounts for pedigree players like Juan Verón, Kléberson (fresh off winning the World Cup) and Diego Forlan only to admit defeat and move them on. Not that Compper was in that class.
In May 2019, as Celtic players received their medals for the successful league title campaign, Compper was surprisingly awarded one also (despite having not played a single game that season) and received a humorous sarcastic cheer from the Celtic crowd, many of whom were actually seeing him for the first time on the field (let alone as a player) for a very long time.
In retrospectives, Compper was going to be ranked as one of the poorest transfers in by Celtic in the club’s history (in a financial sense). It was a sorry tale, but his time was spoken about more in humour than anything else.
He finally left in July 2019 signing on with third tier German side MSV Duisburg, cutting short his contract at Celtic. He played a number of games with Duisburg, and then in August 2020, he announced his retirement from play and moved on to the coaching staff.
We hope him the best.
Playing Career
| APPEARANCES | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LEAGUE CUP | EUROPE | TOTAL |
| 2017-18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018-19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
Scottish Cup
Pictures
KDS
- Signs for Celtic (2017): http://kerrydalestreet.co.uk/topic/11051134/
Articles
‘I’m still very proud’, Marvin Compper on winning medals without playing By Lubo98
24 May, 2020
‘I’m still very proud’, Marvin Compper on winning medals without playing
MARVIN COMPPER has opened up on the receiving Premiership winners medals, without featuring for Celtic in the league. The German joined from RB Leipzig in January 2018 but mustered just one appearance in 18 months in Glasgow.As reported by The Glasgow Times, Compper discussed his time in Glasgow and how he felt about being given a league winners medal despite not featuring. Despite arriving for £1.5m and with high hopes, Compper has become a club legend as a result of his games to trophies ratio.
“It was definitely a bit strange. A lot of managers talk about a team being important up to the last player who played 10 minutes in a game. Even if it’s a tiny part, they’ve played their part. For a player with my CV and career, though, that is not enough. A young player like Karamoko Dembele, for example, was very proud and happy they got a medal. For me it was strange because I wasn’t able to contribute.
“The impact I had on Leipzig and Hoffenheim promotions was much bigger so there’s a huge difference between the two. Ultimately I’m still very proud to have been part of the Celtic squad, part of the history and wearing the colours. Even if it was only in one cup game and training, it still happened.
“I don’t have any regrets and I wouldn’t make any different decision. It was a good decision to make at that stage in my career, I went to Celtic to play international football and win titles.Even though I have the medal, it’s still not the way I wanted to win titles, I wanted to be an integral part of the team, that was the motivation to go to a big team like Celtic.”
Compper was given a loud cheer when picking up his league winners medal last year and when he got his hands on the trophy, people had to double take as to who was actually parading the trophy. Even teammates like Ryan Christie.
To say that Compper’s Celtic career never took off due to injuries is an understatement but a player of that calibre should have been better than what we saw of the senior pro. Compper and Jack Hendry arrived that transfer window with a combined fee around the £4m mark and Celtic haven’t seen any return from this investment.
Compper was an enigma during his time at Celtic, he was untried by Brendan Rodgers when he could have called upon the German but for whatever reason, he was left out of the first team. He will remain a flop in terms of the Celtic recruitment that was mixed under Rodgers reign.