Celtic captain Scott Brown has openly acknowledged that there will be a clearout at Parkhead this summer.
The club have still to appoint a new manager for next season. Neil Lennon has just collected Celtic’s eighth consecutive Scottish Premiership title. If he secures the treble treble, he’ll have some real tangible proof that he should get the job.
But at the same time, performances have been mightily poor under the Northern Irishman. Three draws and a weak 2-1 loss at Ibrox certainly hasn’t helped his cause either. In any case, however, a new manager will have to add some freshness to the squad over the summer.
And speaking in the Daily Record, Brown has admitted that there will be a lot of players leaving the club when the season ends.
“There will be a clear-out at the end of the season and a lot of people will be leaving and there will be a lot of new faces coming in as well.
“There’s a lot of lads who have been here a long time that love being here and have won a lot of trophies and I think that’s what makes this club special.
“The lads have a lot of love and passion for the club and for the fans as well.”
No surprises there
It’s likely just what Celtic fans would’ve expected. Mikael Lustig, Cristian Gamboa, Dorus de Vries, and Emilio Izaguirre are at the end of their contracts (Daily Record). As well as that, Dedryck Boyata has already accepted a deal with Hertha Berlin for next season.
It seems highly unlikely that Celtic will make a move for departing loan players Oliver Burke and Jeremy Toljan either. Filip Benkovic will also head back to Leicester City, and it will be interesting to see what happens there.
But a clearout is exactly what the club needs. For too long we’ve been needing a fresh injection with a lack of quality coming through the door. It also remains to be seen who else is involved in the clearout too.
The Hoops have plenty of youngsters who could also be doing with some game-time on loan. The likes of Mikey Johnston, Ewan Henderson, and perhaps even Armstrong Oko-Flex could use experience at senior level. There have been no reports about any of them departing, however.
But overall, it’s going to be a big summer of change at Parkhead. Brown’s words only confirm this.
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