The End Of The Juranovic Saga Is The Best Thing For Him And Celtic.

At any football club where a player wants to leave, it is better for all parties if the issue is settled quickly. The first rumblings of unhappiness date back to the summer. Back then the idea that a player who was almost just in the door would leave so soon would have been unthinkable, but here we are, on the brink of it happening.

Juranovic cost us £2.5 million. If the reports are accurate he will leave this club for a fee three times that, before add-ons which could net us what we paid for him again. That means that in a little over a year we have turned a tidy profit on the guy.

The important thing, above that, is that his departure does not unduly hurt the team. We have a good right back in Ralston and another in the Canadian Johnston, who I like more every time I see him play and admire more every time I hear him speak.

£10 million including add-ons is less than what we thought we’d get a month ago, but let’s be honest, we all want this behind us and that’s a fee not to be sneezed at when you’re dealing with a want-away footballer, and it’s sufficiently enticing that it should put an end to all nonsense about minimum release clauses. The thing you have to remember about players when they get to a certain age is that the clubs who buy them aren’t going to get to sell them on later … so it is with this guy and so it will be when Giakoumakis leaves us.

I’m never happy when a player leaves this club, not for one minute. But we can all see the sense in this, the logic in this, the need to do this. We can all appreciate that this had dragged on too long and an end had to be brought to it, if for no other reason than assuring that we have a happy camp here and no dissention in the ranks.

It means that we go into the second half of the season without waverers. It means that we go into the second half of the season on a wave of positivity and we know that everyone involved is going to give their all. Not that Juranovic has been slacking off; he’s been a model pro and that’s why I will wish him where at Berlin, if indeed that’s where he’s going.

This particular saga is almost at an end. Once we bring a striker in, Giakoumakis will be allowed to leave for the first club that offers the right transfer fee.

I freely admit to being less happy about that deal, because I think he had a lot more to offer us but he too has decided that one year at Celtic is enough, and he’s going for more money … and let’s be honest, that’s what it is. This is not about football reasons here, wherever these guys end up their days of challenging for top honours are probably in the past.

But Ange knows that now, and he knows too that the guys who are here are the guys who want to be here, the guys who are committed to the cause. That’s all that matters as we approach the end of this window. Emerging from it with our strength in depth intact.