Charlie Nicholas believes that Celtic should be looking to sell Odsonne Edouard, Olivier Ntcham, Kris Ajer, Ryan Christie and Jeremie Frimpong if offers come in this month.
Celtic haven’t received a significant fee since Kieran Tierney was sold to Arsenal in August 2019. Scott Sinclair and Lewis Morgan brought in token fees last January with the squad trimmed by the release of Jozo Simunovic, Jonny Hayes and Craig Gordon.
Most fans expect an overhaul of the squad in the summer but Nicholas believes that his old club should start bringing in funds this month to give a new manager the chance to build his own squad up.
Central to everything is the on-going managerial review which could yet come up with the unexpected announcement that the club has full faith in Neil Lennon for next season.
Who will make that decision and dictate transfer policy over the six days left in this window isn’t clear but picking up from his Daily Express column, the Daily Record reports Nicholas saying:
Celtic must start rebuilding this month and they should start by selling Odsonne Edouard and Olivier Ntcham. The Hoops have to write this season off. The league is gone and I don’t think the Scottish Cup will be completed. Parkhead chiefs need to look to the future now.
It seems certain that a new manager will come in and he will need money to rebuild the squad. I would look to cash in on some of their current assets.
Neil Lennon admitted that some of his players were unhappy when they failed to get moves away last summer, so if they are still unhappy they should try to sell them during the January transfer window.
These players’ contracts are running down and if Celtic wait until the summer their market value will decrease. The question is, who at the club would make these decisions?
Later on, he added three more that won’t be part of the future:
I know Celtic can’t sell all their main assets in this window but I would also consider offers for Ryan Christie, Kristoffer Ajer and Jeremie Frimpong. These players look unlikely to commit to the club over the longer term, so Celtic should look to maximise their money on them.
I believe Ajer has been Celtic’s best player by a mile, but I would still sell the Norwegian defender as his value is only going to drop. In terms of players coming in, I don’t see any point in Celtic doing business before the close of the window.
They’d be as well keeping any money to give the next manager the best chance of competing with Rangers again.
Other than Frimpong who is under contract until June 2023 the other four players named by Nicholas are under contract until June 2022.