Celtic’s First Team Squad Are On TLong-Term Deals Which Give Us Real Power.

Last night one of the other sites – CeltsAreHere – did a good article on the situation involving the contracts of our key players. I thought it was very instructive to look at that piece and think about what the implications of it are.

We don’t have a single major first team player in the last twelve months of his deal, although we do have two loanees in Jenz and Abildgaard. That means that there is no real rush to get players to sign contracts. There are three key squad players who will be entering their final year at the end of this campaign, but there is plenty of time to tie them down.

They are Mooy, Turnbull and Hart. I don’t think any of them will prove difficult to deal with. I would expect deals for two out of three – Turnbull and Hart – to be concluded before this season ends. Mooy is a wait and see one. We may not want an extension because he’ll be 33 by then and we’ll have to decide whether he’s worth another campaign.

Another player whose deal is up is Scott Bain. It’s very much “watch this space” on that one but I wouldn’t be surprised if we were willing to let him go. There may well be better options available to us by the time his deal is up.

The players who will have two years left at the end of this campaign does include a number of first team players, but they are also pretty interesting ones.

Ralston and Taylor are amongst them and both are young enough that I think we’ll want business done there.

Starfelt’s deal will be up but if he continues to impress expect that tied down with plenty of time to spare. Stephen Welsh’s deal will be up. So too will the deals for Forrest and McCarthy.

McCarthy will be allowed to go. Forrest will be well into his thirties and probably will too. He will get his testimonial and an excellent Celtic send-off having long since secured his 100 goals for the club.

What a servant to Celtic he will have been by that time.

The other name that jumps out at you is Kyogo.

But we know that he’ll be offered improved terms long before that becomes a problem for us.

The 2026 expiration crowd are the bulk of our marquee footballers; McGregor, Giakoumakis, Carter Vickers, Maeda, Hatate, Juranovic, O’Riley, Maeda and Abada. Jota’s contract isn’t up until 2027 and neither are those of Bernabei or Haksabanovic.

What this means, of course, is that if the big money offers for these guys do come in, either next summer or the one after that, none of these guys is in any danger of walking out the door on a free. Our bargaining position is immense.

All these guys are locked down for four or five year contract periods and that really does give us a strong hand.

Part of that is luck. I can’t dispute that. Part of it is simply that we signed so many of these guys at the same time that it has played beautifully to our advantage. But what a state we would be in right now if, like Ibrox, we had a lot of these guys on long-terms just to find out that they aren’t very good at all. We have done that in the past.

In fact, amongst the guys who will have a year left come the end of this campaign – another full year of them unless we can move them on – are Soro, Ajeti and Barkas. The big keeper, at least, sounds as if he’s playing well and could get a move … the others, we might well have to cut our losses on and pay out the last year just to be rid of them.

But that is small potatoes now. We have a high-value squad here tied down for years to come. Not only are these talented players, but they are assets and none of them is going to lose their value for a couple more years at least.

We’re in the best position we’ve been in as a club in my lifetime.