Celtic's first January departure will surely be Anthony Ralston, with the full-back having been frozen out by Martin O'Neill. Ralston has previously played a significant role for the Bhoys, but he has been relegated to a virtually irrelevant role at this stage.
Ralston made 35 appearances for the Bhoys across all competitions last season and was rewarded with a Scotland nod during the summer, but it now looks as though his Bhoys career is over.
Ralston has been relegated to fourth-choice right-back and has barely seen any football. He featured in the Champions League qualifying play-offs and has played 10 minutes of Europa League football, but that is it.
The experienced full-back hasn't played at all in the Premiership, and he has only been on the bench twice, being left out of the squad for all of the other league games.
Colby Donovan has won the spot to be Alistair Johnston's back-up by impressing in the Canadian's absence, and Jordan Lotomba was signed late in the summer window, serving as the number three option.
It's a pretty strange situation, with Ralston going from being a regular to barely being considered. Of course, a large chunk of his appearances last season were down to Johnston spending a chunk of the season out injured, but he was still the number two.
With that in mind, it was surprising to see Lotomba signed to further strengthen at right-back, with Ralston being behind the impressive Donovan.
Ralston is also out of contract next summer, so Celtic will want to sell in January to avoid losing him for free. This is pure speculation, but his sudden omission does raise some questions over whether he has a trigger in his contract for a further year if he plays X number of games in the final year of his deal.
Those clauses do exist, but again, that is pure speculation.
What we do know is that Ralston isn't part of the picture as far as O'Neill is concerned, and it has become painfully obvious that he will be sold in January. The defender will surely be desperate to find himself a new club to avoid spending the second half of the season starved of football, and the 27-year-old will be confident of finding a good gig elsewhere.
He is an experienced operator and a decent defender, and he is likely to be available on the cheap, if not for free, even in January.
Add us as a preferred source on Google