A club should never allow a key player to enter the last 12 months of their contract, but they should really be sorting something out as soon as there are two years left.
It leaves them powerless if the player decides to run their deal down and look for a move elsewhere, so Celtic will need to make a decision on Ryan Christie soon.
He still has 18 months left on his deal so there’s a year before anyone can offer him a pre contract agreement, but his value will dramatically decrease next summer if he wants to move on and no new deal has been signed.
He’s a cracking player who may fancy his chances down south at some stage in his career, so it’s not a great surprise to see that Newcastle United have emerged as serious contenders for his signature.
The report cites 90min.com in suggesting that Newcastle are interested in him now, but it doesn’t sound like a new deal is close to being agreed so they may wait until next summer to save on the fee.
Christie holds most of the power here because he’s turning 26 next year so he’s in his prime years, while he’s also a top level player who should attract plenty of interest.
It’s also likely that he’ll play a significant part for Scotland in the EURO’s so a strong showing there could push his wage demands to a place that Celtic can’t match, so they really need to push for an agreement soon.
From Christie’s point of view Newcastle tend to change their manager fairly often and Steve Bruce isn’t the most popular boss they’ve ever had, so those plans could change if he moves on and a new manager has different targets in mind.
