Talk that Celtic have opened negotiations with certain players over new deals is rife. As are rumours that at least one of them – Juranovic – has turned an offer down.
That rumour is the basis on which some are alleging that the player will leave in the coming window.
Nobody knows if there’s a word of truth or fact in it. Nobody knows if it’s anything other than absolute bollocks. Imagine that it is not. Imagine Juranovic has turned down our first effort to get him to commit for extra years. Why would that change our January posture? Why would that necessitate making him available for sale?
None of our players need to be sold in January or even in the coming summer. Not one of them is coming up on the expiry of their contracts, all of which were just signed last season. This team is as settled as it has ever been. If we make a sale it will not because we needed to. If we sell someone then it will be a clear decision from inside Celtic.
What would motivate that decision?
Well, if the offer for Juranovic was ridiculous and the manager was convinced that we could easily replace him – he’s a decent player but not, I think, a critical one for Celtic – then I can understand why that decision would be made. There are other factors too; he’s 27, at the older end of the saleable assets and a guy who cost us a mere £2.5 million.
If we got five or six times what we paid for him, how could we say no to it?
Other than that – a coldblooded, ruthless, motivated decision to let him go if the right offer came in – we are in absolutely no rush to part company with anybody. We don’t need to. Juranovic signed a five-year deal with us just over a year ago; even if he’s turned down a deal we’re under absolutely no pressure, or any obligation, to let him leave.
The same applies to all of our first team assets, most of whom are new signings and here for the long haul. We are financially solvent, in a good place and cruising.
The choices we make are our own, and we won’t be pushed around on them.