Interim boss John Kennedy surprisingly believes that Celtic’s major summer rebuild won’t be on the scale everyone thinks it is.
The Hoops look like they have one heck of a summer on their hands. The likes of Odsonne Edouard, Kris Ajer, and Ryan Christie look likely to go gien they’re entering the final 12 months of their contracts. The Hoops also have five loan players scheduled to head back to their clubs. We also have our long-term captain leaving, whilst we’ll be short in almost every area of the football pitch.
That’s not even mentioning the fact that Celtic have still to appoint a new manager and Director of Football. The entire footballing department is going through huge change.
However, in terms of the on-field recruitment, Kennedy has eyebrow-raisingly moved to tone down expectations on how big the overhaul will be.
“Not a number on it”
As quoted by the Glasgow Times, the temporary Celtic boss said: “There’s not a number on it (new signings). We just have to get through the next period and then look at things in terms of what we need to replace in the squad.
“We’re not carrying a big squad. I’ve been here a number of seasons when we’ve had much bigger numbers. We don’t have huge numbers at the minute. There are obviously players who are coming to the end of their contract. There might also be a few bodies who, as always, might be looking to move on elsewhere.
“So it will be a collective decision in terms of what we’re going to do moving forward, there’s a new chief executive and all parties in terms of how the squad’s going to look. But there will be change, probably a bit more than we normally would have. So it will be a collective decision in terms of what we’re going to do moving forward, there’s a new chief executive and all parties in terms of how the squad’s going to look. But there will be change, probably a bit more than we normally would have.
“However, I don’t expect it to be an absolute major overhaul like everyone thinks.”
Celtic’s summer rebuild can’t be undermined; will have to undergo the biggest overhaul in some time
Sorry John, but all evidence points to this being the biggest rebuilding of the Celtic squad in years. Perhaps even greater than the 2010 rebuild under Neil Lennon after Tony Mowbray was sacked.
The reason being that just look around at our squad. Let’s break it down position by position:
The goalkeeping department may not have anyone scheduled to depart, but we need better. We haven’t had a competent shot-stopper between Vasilis Barkas, Scott Bain, and Conor Hazard this season. Something needs to be done there, and an addition would be more than welcome.
The back-line holds major issues for us. Shane Duffy is heading back to Brighton whilst Ajer looks likely to leave. Chris Jullien is out until well into next season too, meaning only Stephen Welsh is available as a recognised centre-back. We could easily need two or three signings in that area, and that’s not even mentioning the fact we likely won’t have a right-back on the books outside of Lee O’Connor and Anthony Ralston.
We look generally decent enough in the midfield. Ismaila Soro looks like Scott Brown’s natural replacement. With youngster such as Luca Connell and Scott Robertson pushing for game-time next season too, it could be wise to push the youth players. However, on the flanks, we’ll need a replacement for when James Forrest picks up a knock, and Moi Elyounoussi will also need replaced.
Up top, we could be without three of the four strikers we had on the books this term. Patryk Klimala is close to leaving whilst the idea of Edouard staying is just fanficul. Nothing is certain over Leigh Griffiths either, meaning Albian Ajeti is the only one who looks almost certain to stay.
That’s the scale of the rebuild we need this year. You can’t brush under the carpet the magnitude of the task. If we carry out less work than what’s needed, we can froget the title next season too.
In other news, the departure of Peter Grant from Alloa has the Celtic fans speculating this afternoon.
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