Ange Postecoglou is planning to hold transfer talks with Odsonne Edouard to decide which course of action is best for the club.
The striker has spent four years at Celtic and has been strongly linked with a move this summer although Leicester City no longer seems like his likely destination.
With 12 months left to run on his contract it is a very delicate time for the player and the club with common sense saying that he has to be sold rather than Celtic watch him walk away for free next summer.
Looking at the situation slightly differently Postecoglou told The Sun:
Why should I rule that out when I have not had a discussion with them? I am going to make those decisions myself, based on what I see and assess. In my position, I have multitudes of people giving me advice and opinions, but at the end of the day I am the one responsible.
I’ve learned in life, and especially in my management career, that if I am going to be ultimately responsible, I am going to make sure that I am the one who makes the decisions.
I’ll have discussions with all the players and staff and my role in that is to make sure the club’s interests are protected. Wherever that discussion takes us, we will come to a conclusion then.
Whether it’s Edouard or whoever it is, what they decide could be at cross purposes. My feeling is that whatever dreams and aspirations the players may have they can accomplish them here.
I’ll have the discussion with all the players. Hopefully they see some synergy there and they want to be involved because whoever does stay, I want to guarantee they will be part of something special.
Maybe they should think about it before leaving because once you go out the door it’s very hard to come back in
In 2019 Celtic watched Dedryck Boyata leave the club for nothing, a year after he had impressed with Belgium at the World Cup Finals in Russia. Ryan Christie is out of contract in January.
Edouard or two or three seasons ago would be a fantastic asset for Postecoglou but the cold business decision is that it is likely that he will have to be sold with the emphasis on reinvesting the fee on someone likely to deliver more than 20 goals in the season ahead.
With Moi Elyounoussi back at Southampton Celtic could be going into the new season without their top two scorers from last season. The third highest scorer was David Turnbull with nine from his debut season at the club.