wee_od_88
Vital Football Hero
It's that time of the season now where Brendan and the club will be looking ahead to players coming in and going out and there are already a number of players being linked with moves away.
Scott Sinclair is being linked with both Brighton and Bournemouth. With 2 years left on his contract, he'll be a a great piece of business if sold as we'll need to be given a decent amount of cash for him! He's just turned 29 years old so while by no means past it, selling now for a good price certainly makes financial sense.
Simunovic and Boyata, while not playing their best this season, are both still attracting interest from the continent. Simunovic still has admirers in Italy.
Dorus de Vries has fallen down the pecking order thanks to Scott Bain's performances. GK seems to be a position that we're still not 100% sure on. Gordon is still No.1 once he returns form injury, but for how long? Is it a position BR will look to strengthen when he finds the right player? Simon Mignolet has been linked with a move now that he's lost his place in the Liverpool team. I wouldn't be thrilled by Mignolet as he's had some particularly high profile blunders in recent years.
Patrick Roberts - his loan is up this summer, obviously his injuries have held him back a bit this season but we know he's a special player. The problem is that is he and can he be special enough in a team like Man City? Probably not! He could be one of the best players at Celtic, a superstar, but will that be enough? If the price for him is not ridiculous, we could make it permanent and I think Roberts would be happy to join. However if other EPL teams come in with a big enough offer to Man City then he could well end up there, he's not short of admirers in England.
Odsonne Edouard - his loan is up in the summer and obviously there has been a lot of talk of whether to buy him or not. A big factor in whether or not we sign him will be whether Dembele leaves or not.
Moussa Dembele - looks increasingly likely that he will go this summer but probably not quite for the price that was talked about last summer. His form hasn't been as good this year but he's coming back onto form and that will start alerting plenty of clubs for this summer. We should still be looking for at least £15m for him.
Mikael Lustig - a bit of a cult hero at Celtic, he loves it here and has already spoken of wanting to finish his career with us. However, will BR want to keep him around? He's one of the few players who not really at any point over BR's 2 years in charge has really gotten better. At 31 he's coming towards the end of his career, especially as a RB. While he has the size to play as a CB, he doesn't always have the footballing brain to play CB, particularly bad with balls over his head, he's not aware of what's behind him. He should technically be a perfect fit for BR and our 3 at the back formation but the reality may be different. When we want to play with 4 at the back, we have Ralston coming through and he's likely to feature more next season if he stays fit. With both Hendry and Ajer more than capable of playing the RCB position, BR has youth in Lustig's positions and so his game time is going to decrease. He's also going to be at the World Cup this summer so he will not be our starting RB/RCB when the season begins.
The big question though might be who will buy him?
Cristian Gamboa - almost certainly leaving this summer. Rarely used or seen but loves living in Scotland it seems but somehow he's still the first choice RB for Costa Rica. Not really a lot to say, he's still got a year left on his contract but we probably won't even try to sell him, we'll just try and get rid of him!
Tom Rogic - entering the final year of his contract and attracting interest from other clubs after improving greatly under BR. He's still not quite a definite starter in the team but that's sometimes down to the fact he's not suited to playing against every opposition. He's been offered a new deal but he's unsure what he wants to do. If he has a good World Cup with Australia this summer, that could see even more interest in him and potentially increase our asking price as well. He's one that BR has said he will not stand in his way if he wishes to go and try his luck elsewhere.
Stuart Armstrong - In the same position as Rogic. There was a long, drawn-out contract saga last summer and he signed a year extension. Talk of a £7m valuation which if we got could be spent on splashing out on Edouard or Roberts.
There is talk of who and what BR wants to sign this summer. A striker is apparently on that list but that could be Edouard. When it comes to back-up strikers, Jack Aitchison could be our new man. He's continuing to play well for the development side and is also scoring for Scotland U19s. The 18 year old scored a double against Netherlands recently to help Scotland to a 2-0 win. My guess would be that BR will still want someone else in if we sell Dembele and even bring in Edouard.
He also apparently wants another winger. With Roberts leaving and Musonda apparently not a winger (I really think we should at least try him there) we are in need of more back-up.
Beyond that we need more CBs to help along Ajer and Hendry in their development.
Scott Sinclair is being linked with both Brighton and Bournemouth. With 2 years left on his contract, he'll be a a great piece of business if sold as we'll need to be given a decent amount of cash for him! He's just turned 29 years old so while by no means past it, selling now for a good price certainly makes financial sense.
Simunovic and Boyata, while not playing their best this season, are both still attracting interest from the continent. Simunovic still has admirers in Italy.
Dorus de Vries has fallen down the pecking order thanks to Scott Bain's performances. GK seems to be a position that we're still not 100% sure on. Gordon is still No.1 once he returns form injury, but for how long? Is it a position BR will look to strengthen when he finds the right player? Simon Mignolet has been linked with a move now that he's lost his place in the Liverpool team. I wouldn't be thrilled by Mignolet as he's had some particularly high profile blunders in recent years.
Patrick Roberts - his loan is up this summer, obviously his injuries have held him back a bit this season but we know he's a special player. The problem is that is he and can he be special enough in a team like Man City? Probably not! He could be one of the best players at Celtic, a superstar, but will that be enough? If the price for him is not ridiculous, we could make it permanent and I think Roberts would be happy to join. However if other EPL teams come in with a big enough offer to Man City then he could well end up there, he's not short of admirers in England.
Odsonne Edouard - his loan is up in the summer and obviously there has been a lot of talk of whether to buy him or not. A big factor in whether or not we sign him will be whether Dembele leaves or not.
Moussa Dembele - looks increasingly likely that he will go this summer but probably not quite for the price that was talked about last summer. His form hasn't been as good this year but he's coming back onto form and that will start alerting plenty of clubs for this summer. We should still be looking for at least £15m for him.
Mikael Lustig - a bit of a cult hero at Celtic, he loves it here and has already spoken of wanting to finish his career with us. However, will BR want to keep him around? He's one of the few players who not really at any point over BR's 2 years in charge has really gotten better. At 31 he's coming towards the end of his career, especially as a RB. While he has the size to play as a CB, he doesn't always have the footballing brain to play CB, particularly bad with balls over his head, he's not aware of what's behind him. He should technically be a perfect fit for BR and our 3 at the back formation but the reality may be different. When we want to play with 4 at the back, we have Ralston coming through and he's likely to feature more next season if he stays fit. With both Hendry and Ajer more than capable of playing the RCB position, BR has youth in Lustig's positions and so his game time is going to decrease. He's also going to be at the World Cup this summer so he will not be our starting RB/RCB when the season begins.
The big question though might be who will buy him?
Cristian Gamboa - almost certainly leaving this summer. Rarely used or seen but loves living in Scotland it seems but somehow he's still the first choice RB for Costa Rica. Not really a lot to say, he's still got a year left on his contract but we probably won't even try to sell him, we'll just try and get rid of him!
Tom Rogic - entering the final year of his contract and attracting interest from other clubs after improving greatly under BR. He's still not quite a definite starter in the team but that's sometimes down to the fact he's not suited to playing against every opposition. He's been offered a new deal but he's unsure what he wants to do. If he has a good World Cup with Australia this summer, that could see even more interest in him and potentially increase our asking price as well. He's one that BR has said he will not stand in his way if he wishes to go and try his luck elsewhere.
Stuart Armstrong - In the same position as Rogic. There was a long, drawn-out contract saga last summer and he signed a year extension. Talk of a £7m valuation which if we got could be spent on splashing out on Edouard or Roberts.
There is talk of who and what BR wants to sign this summer. A striker is apparently on that list but that could be Edouard. When it comes to back-up strikers, Jack Aitchison could be our new man. He's continuing to play well for the development side and is also scoring for Scotland U19s. The 18 year old scored a double against Netherlands recently to help Scotland to a 2-0 win. My guess would be that BR will still want someone else in if we sell Dembele and even bring in Edouard.
He also apparently wants another winger. With Roberts leaving and Musonda apparently not a winger (I really think we should at least try him there) we are in need of more back-up.
Beyond that we need more CBs to help along Ajer and Hendry in their development.