It’s no secret that once Celtic announce their new manager, they will have a huge job on their hands in order to repair the damage done at Parkhead.
The Bhoys will need to prepare a squad good enough to challenge their biggest rivals again which will be made all the more difficult by a potential mass exodus.
Scott Brown is set to leave for Aberdeen while Ryan Christie could fetch a seven-figure sum after being linked with the exit door.
There is also the threat that Odsonne Edouard departs. So regularly attracting the attention of the Premier League, it feels like now is the time he’ll finally walk away from Glasgow.
Unfortunately, Celtic could also lose Kristoffer Ajer this summer.
The Norwegian has caught the eye of Tottenham in recent years while AC Milan were also interested earlier this season.
Though, in the last few weeks, speculation has ramped up. Newcastle and Norwich are now both chasing the Norwegian with the Magpies sending scouts to watch him in the Old Firm derby last weekend.
Last summer, it looked as though the player would be worth around £15m but his value has rocketed now to around the £25m mark.
A fresh claim from Paddy Davitt of the Eastern Daily Press claims that because of this, Norwich could well be priced out of a move by Newcastle.
The good news here is that Celtic have seemingly found a potential buyer willing to pay such a considerable sum.
[snack-amp-story url= “https://www.footballfancast.com/web-stories/celtic-manager-transfers-eddie-howe-jesse-marsch-ryan-christie-siriki-dembele” title=”Read the latest Celtic managerial updates, transfer news, rumours and gossip!”]
The worrying aspect, though, is that within just a matter of months at being a club, Dominic McKay could lose one of Celtic’s prized possessions.
Ajer has often been the glue holding the Hoops together this term and while everyone around him in the backline has faltered, he’s remained a constant form of solidity.
The centre-back sets a wonderful example for others, something John Harton picked up earlier in the campaign; “He’s grabbing the bull by the horns and he’s almost dragging the team through, even to these draws,” he began.
“He’s a credit to the rest of the players. They should all look at him and if they’d all adopted the same attitude as Ajer then might have made a better fist of it in terms of holding on to the title,” Hartson concluded.
To surrender such an influential player, therefore, will be a disaster and despite an iflux of cash, it will be tough to find another defender or Ajer’s quality.
Celtic have lost so many players to the Premier League in the last decade and it now looks set to bite them in the heels again.
It’s a horrible trend but even with a new figure in McKay at Paradise, it seemingly can’t be stopped. He will have every right to feel gutted if a move goes through.
The team on the pitch will almost certainly be weaker without Ajer and regardless of what goes on in terms of the bank account, supporters will judge McKay, and the new manager, based on what happens on the pitch.
AND in other news, Dominic McKay is already on the verge of his first major Celtic mistake…