The Sun has produced a list of 20 players who could be leaving Celtic this summer.
That figure suggests a bigger turnover than last summer but the reality is that those listed, with just a couple of exceptions those leaving will barely be noticed.
The two obvious exceptions are Tom Rogic and Nir Bitton. The departure of the two midfielders has already been announced, Celtic’s activities in January seems to have been preparing for those exits with three midfielders added to the squad.
Five players are in the next bracket, all legacy issues from the final few transfer windows conducted by Peter Lawwell and Neil Lennon. Chris Jullien and Boli Bolingoli both have 12 months left on the contracts that they signed in 2019, Ismaila Soro, Albian Ajeti and Vasilis Barkas have longer term deals that are unlikely to be matched elsewhere.
That lot brings the list up to seven. Karamoko Dembele is out of contract with little known about his intentions, James McCarthy and Liam Scales were signed by Postecoglou but barely featured in the new year after the manager had worked his way through his second transfer window.
The Sun rounds up the loan players with:
Liam Shaw, Adam Montgomery, Conor Hazard, Osaze Urhoghide, Ross Doohan, Ewan Henderson, Luca Connell, Scott Robertson and Jonathan Afolabi. Young midfielder Kerr McInroy spent the year on loan at Ayr United and has his Celtic deal expiring at the end of the month.
Brody Paterson has already announced that his contract won’t be renewed, after being a regular at Airdrie in the second half of the season he shouldn’t struggle to find another club.
Joey Dawson and Bosun Lawal were signed last summer for the B team squad in the Lowland League, like Urhoghide and Shaw they won’t be part of next season’s first team squad which would suggest going out on loan next season if they are to progress towards that goal.
All eyes will be on new arrivals over the next couple of months but there could also be a number of players slipping out in the other direction.
Losing almost every single one would make no difference Dembele and Montgomery should be retained as well as Scales. The rest need to try somewhere else to build a career. I see Charlie Nick has been at the crack again. He has Bassey at 25 million when an offer of 9 million was talked about just last week. Good grief inflation has gone mental. I am worried with that 25 million the 50 million for Morelos and the 90 million they made from losing in the Europe Final (20 times the amount made by other Europa finalists) might see them break even and then we are in right bother.
Dawson and Lawal certainly won’t leave the club if they did I’d be amazed. Young Bosun is going to go to the top of the game in my opinion. I’ve seen him play and he’s a talent no doubt about it. Celtic B team has a number of really good players, the two mentioned and Ben Wylie, Ben Summers, Ewan Otoo, Rocco Vata, Dane Murray and Owen Moffat all have what it takes to go a long way in football.
The only problem is will they get the chance to progress in our set up, every time a new first team ready player is signed it blocks their path and making the breakthrough that much harder. It’s pointless having an academy if players can’t make the step up, Lennoxtown is clearly a wonderful facility but not enough players are making the grade from there.
It’s difficult for Ange trying to make that transition for a boy from B team to first team as there’s trophies to be played for but some of these could be bled into games that are already won to let them see the level they need to reach and it let’s Ange see how they cope too.
Editor: There is no plan to take players into first team from 18-21 and no idea what to do with project signings like Connell and Afolabi (Shaw or Urhoghide). A second season playing in Lowland League won’t benefit anyone, they need to be playing for a decent Championship side like Thistle or Dundee next season, Queens Park could be an option having gained promotion. Jonny Kenny needs to go somewhere like Motherwell or St Mirren to kick on after Sligo.