That was some season for Celtic. At times, the prospect of a double was almost unimaginable. Amazingly, they got there with a series of stunning, often late wins. After a slightly less nervy Scottish Cup final win, it’s time to start looking forward.
There’s a World Cup interlude of course, but Celtic fans will have a watchful eye out for news of their next manager. They’ll also want to see early progress on new signings too. It looks as though Rangers are off to a quick start in that respect, with Lawrence Shankland swapping his second-placed team for third.
Celtic must add more quality to their squad. They haven't had a decent transfer window for a while now, and the fans will want all that rectified this summer. Work has already started to retain players, with Yang Hyun-jun being the latest to secure a new deal.
Two Celtic squad decisions could make great sense
There shouldn't be a lot of time spent on departing loan players. Only Marcelo Sareachi and Julian Araujo would be good enough to offer a permanent deal to. Perhaps the bigger deals to be decided are for Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Their season-long arrangements end, but there are options to retain both for another season.
The question is, should Celtic do so for either, or even both? It’s not clear-cut in either case, and fans are divided on their views. Without doubt, both bring quality and experience to the squad, but at a cost.
The Ox didn't feature too often in the league. But had an impact, he was though withdrawn at halftime at Ibrox while 2-0 down. Martin O‘Neill didn't use him on the pitch for the last four games; the player did feature in the quarter, semi, and final rounds of the Scottish Cup. Is he capable of getting closer to his past levels again? Maybe a good preseason would help.
Iheanacho was much more involved and prolific once he returned from injury; it made a huge difference having him up front in those latter games. Not to mention his goals. There is a question over Iheanacho as to whether he can improve his fitness and perhaps his pace. He has already shown how valuable he can be to the squad over that title run-in. Plus, that amazing cup final goal displayed his ability once again.
No fee deals could allow Celtic flexibility on wages
For both players, there are likely to be hefty wage packets to consider. That's important when you consider they may be squad players contributing for parts of games. Celtic may be well off financially, but still need value for money.
A key point for both though is that there is no transfer fee to pay. When you look at wasteful sums paid out on the likes of Michel Ange Balikwisha and others, it brings home that all signings are a gamble of sorts. But for Iheanacho and the Ox, it’s maybe not as big a risk as it might first seem.
A £30k per week wages deal, for example, comes out at just under £1.6 million over a year. That's a fraction of the likely £8 million fee asked for Tomas Cvancara, even before his, admittedly lower, wages are factored in. That could allow wages to be stretched a little, within the club's salary structure. These seem like two deals waiting to be done quickly rather than a wild gamble.
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