The five players that must get out of Celtic in January
Since the Ronny Deila days one of the tasks facing incoming Celtic managers has been to trim down the first team squad.
During the summer Celtic managed to offload Marvin Compper while the contracts of Scott Allan, Dorus De Vries, Emilio Izaguirre, Dedryck Boyata, Cristian Gamboa and Mikael Lustig which wiped out a full defence and gave Neil Lennon space to build his own squad.
At the moment Celtic have Kundai Benyu, Andrew Gutman and Manny Perez out on loan but there are still a number of players that look increasingly unlikely to make a contribution this season. With each passing week of inactivity the chances of those players being able to make a difference this season reduces.
With the contracts that Celtic offer it’s unlikely that out of favour players will find better terns elsewhere which leaves the loan option as the only way to free up some space in the squad and give players the chance to go elsewhere and stake a claim to come back stronger and push for a regular first team place.
There is no tried and tested formula for players going out on loan, generally it’s sink or swim with the sinking feeling the more likely. Ewan Henderson is getting a taste of first team football at Ross County, there are at least five more players at the club that need to do the same to get their career, at Celtic or elsewhere back on track.
After getting a run of games in the opening weeks of the season the arrival of Mo Elyounoussi has reduced his prospects with Scott Sinclair also back in favour over the last few games.
Last January the winger went out on loan to Sunderland, he needs to find somewhere that he can get a run of games together to rebuild on where he signed off from St Mirren in the summer of 2018.
Kris Ajer and Ryan Christie have shown that it is possible to return from a loan spell, Morgan needs to hit those levels if he is to make it at Celtic.
Has become the mystery man of Celtic Park. He is regularly pictured training at Lennoxtown but has yet to play any first team or reserve football this season.
Last October against Hearts in the semi-final of the Betfred Cup he suffered an ACL injury which brought his season to a halt- and opened the door to Ryan Christie.
Kouassi was the big winter signing of 2017 but was followed by Ntcham at the next transfer window and has struggled to make in-roads.
With his contract running until June 2021 it’s less likely that he’ll make the breakthrough at Celtic, it’s equally unlikely that there will be a queue of clubs looking to sign a 22-year-old that has been out injured for a year.
Is highly rated at Celtic, is part of the Northern Ireland set up but the arrival of Fraser Forster on loan has pushed him down to fourth choice keeper.
Craig Gordon and Forster are out of contract at the end of this season but Hazard needs meaningful games to add to his 21 Championship matches at Partick Thistle and Falkirk.
Goalkeeping is a nightmare position to develop in, it is largely dependent on injury to others but as the injury to Scott Bain and arrival of Forster proved even that scenario can back-fire.
Hazard will be 22 in March, he’ll know that it is vital to get games to progress his career, as Ross Doolan is experiencing during his second stint at Ayr United.
The midfielder signed in a blaze of publicity at the end of June but has yet to be involved in any first team squad.
At the start of the year he broke into the Bolton team with 14 appearances in The Championship attracting the attention of a number of clubs as Bolton headed into administration and relegation.
Like others such as Eboue Kouassi and Olivier Ntcham the performances of Scott Brown has effectively put a block on his first team prospects.
There won’t be any shortage of offers for Connell in January- finding the right club to pick up on his Bolton form will be crucial for player and club.
It’s been almost downhill all the way for the defender since he joined Celtic in January 2018 from Dundee, the same window that brought Marvin Compper to the club.
Hendry filled in at right-back in his first few months at the club, he came on as a substitute in the wins at Pittodrie and Ibrox but it was a run of win-less matches that he started that critics focussed on.
Despite the regular turmoil in central defence Hendry has been unable to put together the sort of performances that has brought Kris Ajer in from the fringes of the squad.
Hendry was linked with a loan move to Kilmarnock as part of the Greg Taylor deal, it seems that a move to England would be more to his liking.