Nicolas Kuhn was always going to be the next Celtic player the hacks tried to sell.

There are some things in life you can set your clock to, and one of them is the behaviour of the Scottish media. The same people who went out of their way to undermine our German lad, Nicolas Kühn, when he signed for us are now going all out to suggest he’ll be the next player to leave. That was so predictable that I’m only surprised it’s taken them this long.

Nicolas has had a fantastic start to the season, continuing from an excellent pre-season where he was one of the stars during our tour of America. You could see that whatever work he did over the summer had paid off. He returned in incredible shape, hit the ground running, and it’s clear he’s going to be huge for us. He’s already a candidate for Player of the Year.

But, as is the case with every Celtic player who hits form, the inevitable media circus has started. The attempts to move him on have begun. It’s nonsensical. All I know is that, as long as he’s here, I’ll enjoy every moment of him playing for the club. I fully expect that the next news we hear about Kühn will be an improved contract and an extension. We should be doing everything in our power to make sure he signs that deal and stays for as long as possible.

I didn’t think he was terrible last season—far from it. In fact, there were moments when he played really well and looked like he had the potential to be a big player for us. But even in my wildest dreams, I didn’t foresee the impact he’s had this season.

Even when we saw him give Manchester City defenders a real test in pre-season, it wasn’t clear just how good he was going to be. He’s carried that form into the competitive matches, and while we’ve all seen players start strong and then fall away, Kühn has kept that level. His game-changing performance against Falkirk sums up his season so far.

Getting the winner against Ross County was no surprise at all.

He’s been the spearhead of our attack this season. And I knew this was coming—I knew that once his form became undeniable, the media would start their usual nonsense. Of course, they were the ones who sought out Rapid Vienna’s chief executive and asked him about Kühn, twisting that into a story that suggests he’ll be the next out the door.

I know it’s a backhanded compliment, and I understand that it drives fans on the other side of the city crazy to think we’ve got yet another bankable asset in our squad—another player worth an eight-figure sum. But I wish the media would show more appreciation for the talent we have in Scotland and work harder to keep them here.

What’s amusing is how differently they treat the club across the river. They’re always trying to inflate the value of players over there because their motives are very different when it comes to Ibrox. For them, selling a player puts money in the bank—a necessity right now. I read today about how Ibrox should be open to selling Jefre, their so-called Brazilian golden boy, if a decent offer comes in. That’s as predictable as the Kühn story.

Some of the coverage Jefre has been getting over the last few weeks has been so over the top, it must embarrass even the people at Ibrox.

The reason for the hype is obvious—they want to strike while the iron is hot. If he’s exposed to too many games against strong opposition, he’ll be shown up as the defensively suspect player he was known to be in Cyprus. His reputation for being weak defensively wasn’t invented by us; it followed him here. It’s laughable to read suggestions that he’s Real Madrid material.

It’s especially amusing to me that Jefre was already torn apart by Nicolas Kühn in the derby earlier this season. I wrote recently about the deluded claims that he is somehow a better defender than Greg Taylor or Alex Valle.

Some are even suggesting he could make the Team of the Year. Ridiculous.

This is just what the media does.

They’ll try to unsettle any Celtic player who looks like he’s going to be successful while boosting the value of any Ibrox player who has impressed for five minutes.

Having both stories appear in the same week is almost funny, but the fact they went to Rapid Vienna to dig up something on Kühn and twisted it into a narrative about him being the next to leave really makes the blood boil. We should be used to it by now, but it still stings.