Why big money must be spent by Celtic if Tierney departs

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The Celtic transfer budget is never something that’s released to the supporters.

We never get told much about how much the manager has. Instead, we’re generally told how many players the gaffer wants to bring in.

Neil Lennon has yet to really reveal much about his summer plans. He only really gets open about something when he knows a deal is about to be done. So far, he’s managed three of them with Christopher Jullien, Luca Connell, and Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo coming into the club.

It’s been some good work by Lenny and Peter Lawwell so far. Around £10m has been spent on Jullien and Bolingoli-Mbombo alone (Daily Record). It shows good intent, and proves that Celtic are willing to stick their hands in their pocket if necessary this summer.

But if we then make the decision to sell our greatest asset, Kieran Tierney, then massive spending should still be on the cards.

If Celtic rake in around £25m for the left-back (Daily Mail), we should be looking to spend a substantial amount of that. In terms of signings that are an absolute necessity, we only really need two right-backs and another centre-back in. Throughout the rest of the squad, we do have options in the rest of the areas.

But, if we get such a mammoth amount of money for a single player, we would already have brought in what we’ve splashed out so far, plus a £15m profit too.

Celtic transfer budget must be hefty

Therefore, with this being such a key summer window in the bid for 10-in-a-row, we should start adding options in other areas where we could do with them.

First off, we could do with a real, high-quality number 10. The David Turnbull deal has broken down, so why not look for a top class alternative to him? If we have the finances to pull it off, we should leave no stone unturned. Ryan Christie and Tom Rogic are top footballers, but they’ve had their injury problems.

Then there is the fourth striker that Lennon himself wanted earlier on this season (The Herald). Someone who can come in and give us four options up top and allow us to go with two up top without any fear of injuries depleting us severely.

More ideal than necessity buys

Are these two necessity buys? Not overly, but if we rake in all this money for Tierney, then it’s something we should be looking at. Why secure such a massive value for a player like Tierney and just store it away? We’ve saved up enough over the years. Why be so tentative when 10-in-a-row, the holy grail of Scottish football, is on the line?

It’s not as if we don’t have the money. After all, we’re not even including the player sales and huge sell-on fees we’ve managed over the last few years. Moussa Dembele, Stuart Armstrong, Virgil Van Dijk all come to mind. And whilst much of that has likely gone into the new training facility that’s being built near Parkhead, money must still be there to spend.

And if we do make the heartbreaking decision to sell KT, supporters will be owed something. A couple of flashy new signings with the £25m we would bring in would do nicely.

Will it happen? Probably not.