It was an interesting January transfer window for Celtic.
Certainly not what many expected, but a fair few deals were concluded and some were even left in the balance ahead of the summer transfer window re-opening.
The main talking point was the striker department for Celtic and the club’s call not to replace Kyogo Furuhashi after he joined Rennes.
Yes, it was met with some negativity and disappointment, but if you are a striker already in Celtic colours, then you are sensing this as an opportunity to prove yourself and get into that first team.
Of course, Adam Idah holds the cards and he is now the senior striker at the club, but there are a few young guns behind him.
Johnny Kenny made his Celtic debut last month and has come off the bench a few times, but there is also academy star, Daniel Cummings.
Frank McAvennie reacts as Daniel Cummings expected to leave Celtic and join West Ham United
Cummings made his Celtic debut away at Aston Villa in the Champions League. What a stage to make your senior bow.
You would think, with this striker door open, a player like Cummings would be excited by the opportunities that lie ahead, especially given that Brendan Rodgers has faith in the 18-year-old.
But it seems as though Cummings will join West Ham United in the summer and he has a pre-contract agreement in place after several offers were rejected on transfer deadline day.
Frank McAvennie had a dig at agents on his Let Me Be Frank podcast by stating that they have ‘different agendas’ when it comes to their players in today’s game.
“I was different because I came into the game late at 19,” responded McAvennie on if he had the chance to go to England at 17 like Cummings.
“But I had five years at St Mirren and I got about three offers to go down south. But I wasn’t ready. I knew I wasn’t ready.
“Listen, their agents have got different agendas now. My agent was great for the lads. He was great. He had George Best and me. He was great in that respect because I wasn’t ready to go to England. I didn’t want to go down there and sit my a__e on the bench. I didn’t want to do that.
On Cummings going to England knowing he will earn more money but it’s too soon: “I am not going to play,” responded McAvennie.
Brendan Rodgers is making the right call on Cummings
Rodgers has provided Cummings with a chance and a pathway to make a name for himself in the first team – that debut in the Champions League proves it.
But he clearly sees it elsewhere and that West Ham noise is there for a reason, so good luck to him!
From Celtic’s perspective, nothing has been made official regarding Cummings’ future, but judging by Rodgers’ comments, he was seemingly digging at the player just before the winter transfer window closed.
Cummings hasn’t made the matchday squad since and the manager would be right to keep it that way if he isn’t going to be at the club next season.
“You have to be patient, you are at a Champions League and a massive club,” stated Rodgers. “So, patience is going to be important. If you don’t have that, then it’s going to take you elsewhere.
“People will look at the club. The pathway. The pathway is here for any top young player. It’s whether you have the patience enough and the demands professionally to cope with being here, if not, then your representatives may take the chance to move you on and pick up a few extra quid somewhere else.
“Young players have left here and gone on. And I look now, four and five years later, and they are playing at a different level.”
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
