Luis Palma will still net Celtic a windfall. Which is more than can be said for players elsewhere.

Luis Palma. Ah yes, remember him?

If you had watched him at all during the first half of last season, you’d have thought we’d pulled a rabbit out the hat. Ten goals. Ten assists. A thunderbolt against Atletico Madrid. The boy looked like a steal. I wrote a piece talking about how he was putting down numbers which were going to get him close to Jota, who he was supposedly brought in to replace. For about four months, he lit it up in a way few could have predicted.

Palma didn’t just burst onto the scene—he kicked the door in, strutted through it and blew kisses on the way past. It was especially delicious when you considered that the Ibrox club had boasted about having wanted him and passed on it … funny because that was so obviously rubbish (he had snubbed them but not us) and funny because it looked as if they might well be humiliated by that claim.

But then, it fizzled out. The form tailed off. His influence dipped. Suddenly, the Honduran magician who was lighting up Champions League nights couldn’t get a seat at the table, never mind a place in the starting eleven.

Before long, he’d vanished into that netherworld of “options from the bench” and then, not even that. Off he went to Olympiacos on loan, a move that seemed to make sense for everyone at the time.

But if he hoped for a renaissance in Greece, it hasn’t materialised. He’s found himself exactly where he was in Glasgow—on the fringes. Olympiacos have already decided they won’t be exercising their option to buy. Which means he’s coming back. Whether we like it or not, Palma is returning to Celtic this summer.

Now, some might argue that with Jota sidelined for what looks like the best part of a year, there’s a Palma-sized hole in the squad waiting to be filled. Maybe.

But you’d need to be a brave man—or a deeply optimistic one—to bet on him reclaiming a place in this team. Nothing we’ve seen suggests he’ll do it. The manager is very obviously not impressed. I happen to like Palma; he does not suit this style or this team. He is not going to be a success here.

Because while he’s been away, the landscape has shifted. Daizen Maeda is playing the football of his life. Yang is starting to justify the patience we’ve shown in him. And then there’s James Forrest—who, in the twilight of his career, has found something deep in the well and is turning in performances that have completely flipped the script on what we all thought was his final act.

Even if we don’t go out and bring in someone to replace Jota – and we pretty much have to do that – we have options on the left. Better options.

That leaves Palma in an awkward spot. Out of favour at his parent club. Unwanted by his loan side. And facing stiff competition from in-form players who know the system, the manager, and what’s required to win here.

Still, every cloud has a silver lining. And in this case, it’s green. Because Celtic may still be able to move the lad on. We are poised for a wee clear out this summer, and Palma could yet become part of that strategy.

There’s been a lot of criticism thrown at the club over recruitment—and fair enough, some of it was bang on—but here we are, as we watch the emergent shambles across town – and I’ll be covering that later on today – wherein their loan players are all coming back and swelling the wage bill further. We have a good chance to get Palma out of the club. There is interest in Greece and some from elsewhere.

Add that to the expected £5.5 million bonus windfall when the Jeremie Frimpong to Liverpool deal goes through, and we’re sitting comfortably on around £9 million before we’ve sold a season ticket … and before any other sales.

We’ve had the conversation on this before; this club does not need to sell and we should not be under any pressure or obligation to do so before giving the manager a significant sum to spend. At least some of that money is virtually assured now with the Liverpool deal for Frimpong being widely trailed; Palma, Lagerbielke and others could swell the cash pile even more.

It’s a reminder that even the so-called misfires can have value. Palma might not be the player we hoped for when he exploded onto the scene last autumn, but he’s still young, still highly thought of in his national setup, and someone out there will fancy taking a punt. Maybe in Belgium. Maybe back in MLS. But there’s a deal to be done, and I suspect the club is quietly working on it.

There’s no real future for him at Celtic, not unless something radical changes over the summer. We can’t absolutely rule it out; let’s be honest, nobody saw Nicolas Kuhn last season and thought we were looking at a superstar; he started the summer on fire and has never looked back.

But honestly, I don’t see anything like that happening. The manager doesn’t rate him. The pecking order is against him. The momentum has gone. He had his moment—and he was good, briefly—but the curtain came down too quickly.

So, let’s get what we can and move on. That’s football. It doesn’t always work out the way you want it to. Sometimes the guy who looks like a world-beater in October turns out to be surplus to requirements by May.

Luis Palma is a talented lad, and I hope he lands on his feet. Just not at Celtic Park, because our future lies elsewhere.