How Celtic could use the loan market to swing Premiership title race

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Celtic find themselves in a pretty similar place to this time last year. After derby defeat to Rangers, we are in Dubai trying to right some recent wrongs and put ourselves in the best place possible to win another title.

While the league table is in a similar state to last January, there is a feeling that the challenge posed by our rivals is a little different this time around. The main reason for that is that it’s tough to see the Ibrox side dropping too many points between now and May, such is the gulf in class between them and the league’s other ten teams.

So with that in mind, maybe we should help out our fellow Premiership sides with a loan player or two.

The pros would outweigh the cons for Celtic in loan move

The idea of farming out some of our fringe players to aid the league’s other sides may seem a bit extreme on the face of things. Would a few Celtic players on loan at other teams really make that much of a difference in a 38 game league season? But then you consider the pros.

For arguments sake, imagine we loaned out Marian Shved to Hearts and Lewis Morgan to Hibs. Both Edinburgh clubs would be improved immediately by a couple of players clearly better than the majority of what they currently have at the club.

The players would benefit from a chance of first-team football, with Shved in particular given a chance to get to grips with the Scottish game. They would also add firepower to their new side’s attack for games against Rangers and, the best part is, they would be ineligible to play against us.

It’s a system that worked when Youssouf Mulumbu spent the second-half of last season at Kilmarnock. The midfielder starred for the Rugby Park side as they notched a number of notable results against Rangers, while he was sat in the stand whenever they faced us.

I’m not suggesting that we sprinkle our entire development squad around the league’s other ten teams. But surely there’s scope there for some sort of opportunity. In a title race that could go right to the wire, we must be looking to gain every possible advantage we can.