The natural end

And a natural rebuild opportunity

Much of the debate around Celtic’s next phase has centred on the manager (stick or twist on Wilfried), structure (3-4-3) and personalities (The Collective v The Board). But strip away the noise and the reality is far more prosaic. Celtic are approaching a natural end of a squad cycle, one driven not by ideology or impatience, but by contracts, wages and basic arithmetic.

Much of the issues outlined here are not about the January window, but what will happen in the summer. Start with the players whose contracts expire this summer. James Forrest, Simpson-Pussey, Kasper Schmeichel, Kelechi Iheanacho and Marcelo Saracchi collectively account for roughly £5.7 million per year in wages. Some departures will be emotional, others barely noticed, but financially this is clean, automatic release. No transfer negotiations, no sell-on arguments, no amortisation debates. The wage bill simply falls.