Amid the departure of Ange Postecoglou, rumours of possible Celtic players leaving the club have begun, but in actual fact Celtic will be under no obligation to sell this summer.

When the now departed Aussie joined the club in 2021, there seemed to be an immediate emphasis on giving new signings long term deals. This policy was a provocative response to avoid players running down their contract in search of a move at a minimal fee or no fee entirely.

Examples of this were Kristoffer Ajer and Ryan Christie who both ran down their contract, resulting in Celtic being forced to sell both at fees below their market value due to the pair only having a year left on their respective deals. However, this will not be the case this summer or hopefully for summers ahead with the majority of Celtic’s key market assets tied down to long term deals.

According to transfermarkt, of Celtics top 12 most valuable players, 9 have minimum three years left on their deal. Jota, Alistair Johnston and Sead Hakšabanović all have contracts that will expire in 2027.

Most of the top 12 have contracts that will end in 2026 with Cameron Carter Vickers, Callum McGregor, Matt O Riley, Liel Abada, Reo Hatate and Daizen Maeda all tied down for three more years.

Of Celtic’s top 12 assets, that leaves Greg Taylor, Carl Starfelt and Kyogo Furuhashi as the only three players whose contract is up in 2 years. The latter will be the biggest concern with Celtic fans hoping a new contract will be offered to the Scottish Premiership’s top scorer in the coming weeks.

Regardless of speculation, Michael Nicholson will be under no pressure to sell this summer. And the good news for the Celtic CEO is that the club’s major shareholder Dermot Desmond is reportedly angry at the manner in which the now Tottenham manager behaved towards the club in recent weeks and that rage could result in an increased determination to drive Celtic forward from the Irish Billionaire who is unused to getting his way.

The current position is that Celtic’s big assets are already tied down to long term deals, a healthy financial position and UEFA Champions League prize money guaranteed next season means even if Celtic do decide to sell, it certainly will not be for a minimal fee.

James French

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