According to Sky Sports, Celtic are willing to entertain offers for five members of their first-team squad this summer…
Anthony Joseph from Sky Sports has indicated that Brendan Rodgers plans to move a number of players on once the dust settles on the 2024/25 season double-winning season.
Joseph’s report states that Luis Palma, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Stephen Welsh, Kwon Hyeok-kyu, and Marco Tilio are considered excess to the club’s needs, with Celtic reportedly ready to sell them permanently in the upcoming transfer window.
Brendan Rodgers inherited four of these signings on his return to Celtic in summer 2023
Of these five players, four were brought in during Rodgers’ initial transfer window after his 2023 return to Celtic, succeeding Ange Postecoglou following his departure to Tottenham Hotspur. However Rodgers was NOT involved in these transfers and has instead worked through the process of assessing the players at Lennoxtown and in matches and has now reached his decision on what happens next.,
Since transferring to Celtic from Melbourne City, Tilio has featured in just two matches and is currently on loan back at his former club. He is due back at Celtic in the summer after enjoying a return to form back in Australia.
Meanwhile, Kwon joined the club together with fellow South Korean Yang Hyun-jun but has yet to appear competitively, having spent the past two seasons on loan at St Mirren and Hibernian. Altogether, Kwon has played 31 games across his loan periods in Paisley and Edinburgh.
Gustaf Lagerbielke was brought in to replace Carl Starfelt
After Carl Starfelt moved to Celta Vigo in the summer of 2023, Elfsborg’s Gustaf Lagerbielke was brought in to fill the centre-back void, but the Swedish international has featured in just 10 matches since joining. Similar to Kwon and Tilio, he spent this season on loan, making an impression at Eredivisie club FC Twente, who are interested in securing a permanent deal, if the price is right.
Although Honduras international Luis Palma has been the most accomplished among the four signings, he too is currently not part of Celtic’s plans.
After returning to Greece on loan at Olympiakos for the second half of this campaign, he recorded one goal and one assist, but the Greek champions chose not to make the move permanent. Since joining from Aris FC in August 2023, the winger has tallied 20 goal involvements in 48 appearances.
Likewise, academy product Stephen Welsh seems poised to depart Celtic following a successful loan at Belgium’s KV Mechelen, where he made 17 appearances and netted a goal in his final match. Since breaking into the first team in 2020, the 25-year-old has played 68 matches for his parent club.
Steven Welsh has been a fine Celtic servant and a player who always gave everything he had for the jersey. Sadly however it looks like he is going to be playing his football elsewhere.
Hopefully all of these Bhoys get decent moves in the summer and go on to have good careers in the game.
Conor Spence
