Celtic have a busy summer ahead of them.
Brendan Rodgers has Kieran Tierney arriving after a pre-contract deal was struck back in January. The Celtic manager knows, however, that one left-back in the door won’t constitute a strong enough window and that more players need added.
Decisions need to be made by the boss with the help of his recruitment staff with a new striker in particular a necessary signing after the squad looked thin before Celtic’s 3-2 loss to Rangers last week.
But it’s not just incomings that Rodgers has to really consider with outgoing players also a priority for the club when the market opens in the summer.
There are several currently out on loan right now and calls have to be made on their permanent futures while five players are seeing their Celtic contracts run down as we speak until the end of the season.
67 Hail Hail takes a look at the five and suggests the gaffer only attempt to renew two of them.
- READ MORE: Celtic told where Greg Taylor ranks in terms of salary at the club amid contract situation
Greg Taylor
Taylor has transfer interest from the likes of Dinamo in Croatia and it appears as though the defender may well be open to taking the plunge and seeing what else is out there.
Rodgers wants to re-sign Taylor but given the fact that the left-back has still not put pen to paper on an extension may provide the clue as to what he fancies doing. Taylor has won it all at Parkhead and if he wants a new challenge, Rodgers should allow it, shake his hand and bid him farewell with a smile.
Joey Dawson
The youngster has failed to really trouble the first-team since almost netting on his 2021 debut against St Johnstone. There was a striker shortage back then – like there is now – and Dawson benefited.
The fact that the 21-year-old hasn’t had a sniff in the four years since, despite signing a year-long extension in 2024. The time may have come for the young man to try his luck elsewhere for first-team football.
James McCarthy
Incredibly, McCarthy is still technically under contract at Celtic Park. The Irishman has not been training with the team for some time and the assumption was previously that he’d been let go.
It is understood the 34-year-old is still under contract in Glasgow albeit it is a complicated situation behind the scenes. He will see out his deal and depart with MLS clubs interested in giving him his career swansong.
Mitchel Frame
Another left-back, Frame has made one first-team outing against Feyenoord in the Champions League. He is still just 19 which is a decent age but should now come into the first-team to pick up minutes here and there to avoid the stagnation of his development.
If he’s given a chance to work under Kieran Tierney, for example, Frame might still have a chance of making it with the Hoops.
Jeffrey Schlupp
The Ghana international may be 32 but he has shown no signs of slowing down during his loan stint from Crystal Palace this season so far since he joined in Jan.
Schlupp has made 10 appearances, scored once (vs St Mirren, above) and provided as many assists and his Palace deal expires in the summer, too. That makes him available on a free which could see Celts look to extend his stay in Glasgow.
And his versatility means challenging Tierney – with Frame still at the club – would not be the only position he’d be able to play in and be available to cover.
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