Celtic Must Not Let Any Top Players Leave On Loan Even With Options To Buy.

If Giakoumakis and Juranovic are to leave in this window – which a month ago I thought was virtually impossible and I now think is a stone certainty – it must bring closure to both episodes.

It also has to bring satisfaction to all parties and this will not happen if either of these players departs on some six month loan deal with an option to buy.

Even if that option is actually not an option but a requirement.

Sure, we could bank the money in the summer and let the manager spend it then but that’s not the point.

If accepting a fee for Juranovic which is way below our market valuation will come over as the act of a club who just can’t wait to get him off the wage bill letting last season’s top league scorer leave on a loan deal will seem even worse.

If he’s going let’s get the most we can for him and ship him out the door right now, and at least play this hand strong.

It ought to be anyway. There is a lot of interest in the player, and I would find it hard to imagine we’d let him go without putting the money in the bank in the here and now. It would be the smart thing to do.

There are times when appearances are everything.

The first step to psyching out the enemy is to look invincible and the best way to conduct transfer business is to look as if you’re neither desperate to buy nor desperate to sell. Play it cool. No club accepts the first offer that comes in for a player and no club should be advertising such a clear desire to get them off the wage bill.

I am almost certain that neither of these guys will be leaving “on loan.”

If clubs want them it’s “show me the money” time, right now, and take these guys off our hands.

I suspect that’s why neither has been sold already. Because none of these offers suits us.

I believe in the manager.

It’s actually beginning to be difficult not to trust the club a little bit on this stuff, and in part because of, not in spite of, who is in the chairman’s office.

The progress continues to be made. Players continue to be signed. We’re obviously very active.

The one thing I trusted Lawwell on above all else was this; he drove a hard bargain when it came to selling our players.

If those under him need advice on that he’s the man to give it. That way we can turn him into a proper asset. I doubt he’d ever sanction loans for these guys, even if the money was guaranteed.

His record, on that, is pretty damned fine.