Celtic are suffering from the loss of Ryan Christie as well as their injured players, The Athletic’s Kieran Devlin says.
The lowdown
Celtic tried to tie Christie down to a new contract, with his deal due to expire in June 2022.
But when they failed to reach an agreement, they opted to cash in rather than run the very real risk of losing him for nothing.
Celtic wound up banking £1million from AFC Bournemouth for a player who’d made 151 appearances and recorded 85 direct goal contributions (41 goals, 44 assists).
Along with Christie, the Hoops also lost the likes of Odsonne Edouard, Kristoffer Ajer and Scott Brown during the summer transfer window.
Amid a series of injuries, Celtic have endured a tricky start to the new season. They were held at home by Dundee United on Sunday, leaving them sixth in the early table.
The latest
Addressing fans in The Athletic’s matchday discussion on Sunday, Devlin said that ‘along with Furuhashi and McGregor, this team really misses Christie too’.
He feels compelled to ‘say it every week’, but the ‘thinness of the squad’ is clear and it’s having a ‘massive impact’.
The verdict
Perhaps the real issue is not that Celtic allowed Christie to go, but that they failed to sign a quality replacement.
Indeed, the club could be accused of poor planning. It wasn’t until the final day of the transfer window that his move was sealed, even though he’d made clear that he saw his future elsewhere and the contract situation was known long before that.
This feels like yet another example of Ange Postecoglou being somewhat let down by the indecisiveness of the Hoops’ hierarchy.
In other news, read this intriguing Jack Wilshere transfer claim.
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