CELTIC sit thirteen points behind Rangers, with two games in hand, but four points lost have been to teams that have benefitted from the talents of a Rangers loanee – namely Jamie Murphy at Hibs and Ross McCrorie at Aberdeen. Rangers knew that by loaning out players that weren’t going to play many first team games, they strengthen their position as these players could potentially help take points off of Celtic.
Jake Hastie is at Motherwell, Stephen Kelly at Ross County and Robbie McCrorie at Livingston – a decision has been taken to give a crop of young talent the chance to play at their SPFL Premiership rivals but knowing they can’t play against Steven Gerrard’s side. Celtic and Neil Lennon should do the same.
Patryk Klimala, David Turnbull, Ismalia Soro, Stephen Welsh have all seen very little first team action and could be better served at other teams. This would help prepare them for next season but could also help Celtic claw some ground on Rangers, outside of the games against them.
Unless these guys have any chance of playing regular football this season for Celtic – or at least making an impact – Celtic should look around them for potential short term loans.
Guys like Luca Connell, Armstrong Oko-Flex and Karamoko Dembele only have youth team football which is hardly enticing. Jack Ross’ Hibs, Derek McInnes’ Aberdeen and Stephen Robinson’s Motherwell would all be excellent clubs for young players to go and play with – along with Alex Dyer’s Killie could be potential outlets for some fringe Celtic starlets.
The likelihood is that Celtic will strengthen in January in a Mowbray-esque transfer ‘Hail Mary’. This means guys like Tony Ralston and Ewan Henderson will find themselves further down the pecking order at the club and bar training, won’t be offering the club much.
Celtic need to be smart and get these guys playing elsewhere and influencing results.
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Been saying this since the start of the season, especially Klimala, he can’t hurt us but could hurt others