Though Celtic’s double success last season was a triumph for a club on its knees just twelve months prior, the palpable jubilation at Paradise on trophy day in May was tinged with sadness as the crowd bid farewell to two of its longest-serving stalwarts in recent seasons.
Whilst Tom Rogic and Nir Bitton certainly had their struggles in Scotland, both contributed heavily to a period of unprecedented success for Celtic and were given a send-off befitting their service.
Bitton returned to Israel to sign for Maccabi Tel Aviv, but Rogic’s search for a new club was a more unconventional one, spending almost three months of the summer almost completely off the radar before signing for Steve Bruce’s West Brom in mid-September.
Fans can only go on available information, and Rogic’s departure appears to be as amicable as such a departure could be, with a search for a different challenge cited as the reason for the early cancellation of his Paradise contract.
With West Brom in freefall, Bruce was relieved of his duties earlier in the month, and replaced with Carlos Corberán, the Spaniard taking charge of his first match in charge of the Baggies against Sheffield United today.
Rogic failed to make the squad, and with only three Championship matches remaining before Qatar, his World Cup hopes appear to be in major jeopardy, given that he’s only played 132 minutes at the Hawthornes so far [Transfermarkt]. Evidently, things have not worked out as planned for the 29-year-old, post-Celtic.
Rogic hasn’t just missed Celtic, however. Arguably, Celtic have missed him too.
Whilst Matt O’Riley is the Aussie’s obvious long-term successor, and most likely would still start the bulk of Celtic’s fixtures even if Rogic had stayed, his mercurial vision and goal-scoring from midfield is a niche in the squad that remains unfilled.
His departure was also covered with the signing of Aaron Mooy, and whilst his fellow countryman has shown his worth with several consecutive appearances in the last few weeks, he lacks Rogic’s ability to unlock packed defences and his ability to turn a game in the blink of an eye.
Of course, Celtic have been hamstrung in recent weeks with the absence of captain Callum McGregor through injury, with Matt O’Riley deputising in the 6 position. It’s borderline impossible to account for such a key player missing a month or more for any club, but Celtic have missed the option of bringing on not just someone capable of carrying the ball under pressure, but a match-winner in recent weeks.
Though his physical profile suggests he may not be perfectly suited to the Champions League, his inclusion would have been welcome when Postecoglou made his now-customary triple-substitution after around an hour against RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk with score level in both games at the time.
This isn’t to say that Celtic should re-sign their old favourite, Postecoglou is quite famously not one for sentimentality with his players and it seems pretty unlikely that the club would pursue Rogic’s return when the transfer window opens in January.
An ideal outcome is still possible, one in which Rogic gets to to play for Australia at a second World Cup, and Celtic have another trophy-laden season, but both parties can have reasonably still have regrets after what was a fantastic decade for club and player.
In other news: Postecoglou demonstrates perfect Celtic mentality again with class UCL pledge
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