Celtic cannot afford to buy only after they sell.

Why does Celtic always seem determined to sell first and think later?

This is the thing about Celtic that I simply do not understand. The club sells an important player and only then appears to begin the desperate search for someone capable of replacing him.

We have seen this film before.

Every Celtic supporter remembers what happened when Kyogo left. One of the finest strikers to wear the Hoops in recent years was sold, yet Celtic did not appear to have another striker of the same calibre ready to take his place.

There was no proper succession plan. There was no high-quality striker already sitting at Celtic Park with his boots laced, waiting to step into the team. There was no seamless transition. Instead, there was uncertainty, panic and a frantic attempt to solve a problem that the club had created for itself.

Now here we are again, approaching another summer transfer window and hearing speculation surrounding Daizen Maeda and others.

This is where my Ginger-Witch instincts start tingling.

What happens if Celtic sell Maeda or Engels or other key players in key positions? More importantly, what happens if Celtic sell them and then fail to bring in anybody remotely close to their calibre?

That is the part that worries me.

Selling your best players is painful enough. Selling them before you have secured their replacements is self-inflicted damage. Yet Celtic continue to behave as though succession planning is some mysterious concept that nobody in football has ever encountered before.

The modern game moves quickly, and serious football clubs plan years ahead. Celtic are not some cash-strapped outfit scraping around the lower leagues and checking behind the sofa for transfer money.

Celtic are the biggest club in Scotland.

The club has money. It has resources. It has a scouting network. It has analysts, recruitment departments and executives earning enormous salaries to make these decisions. Why, then, does it so often feel as though Celtic are making everything up as they go along?

Forward thinking should not be considered an optional extra at a club of Celtic’s stature. It should be one of the most basic requirements of the job.

Imagine the perfect scenario.

Celtic know that a player is likely to leave within the next six or twelve months. The scouting department identifies three or four potential replacements. Those players are watched repeatedly. Their character, fitness and suitability are assessed. The club begins negotiations early, and the groundwork is completed long before the sale takes place. Then, when the player eventually leaves, the replacement is already there.

Simple. Kyogo leaves? Another top-quality striker is already waiting at Paradise, ready to pull on the Hoops from day one.

Maeda leaves? Another Japanese Samurai arrives, prepared, hungry and ready to terrorise defenders from the first whistle.

There is no panic. There is no desperation.

There is no last-minute scrambling around Europe looking for bargains after every serious target has already gone elsewhere.

There are no Celtic supporters sitting on social media wondering whether the board has forgotten that football seasons actually begin in August.

That is what proper planning looks like.

The best clubs in Europe do it constantly. Players come and go but the machine keeps moving. They understand that transfers are not isolated events. Recruitment is a continuous process, and preparations for the next departure should begin long before the outgoing player has packed his bags.

Meanwhile, Celtic sometimes seem determined to create problems for themselves before attempting to solve them.

That is what frustrates supporters so much.

Daizen Maeda is not simply another winger. He is a phenomenon. He presses like a man possessed. He runs until his legs should have fallen off. He scores goals, creates goals and drags the entire team forward through sheer force of will.

His energy changes matches. His movement terrifies defenders. His attitude sets the standard for everybody around him.

Players like Maeda do not grow on trees.

You cannot simply pick up the phone on deadline day and order another Daizen Maeda. There is no catalogue where Celtic can select a replacement, pay the delivery fee and have him dropped off at Lennoxtown the following morning.

That player has to be found, monitored, and recruited properly.

If Celtic genuinely believe that one of their star players could leave, why are they not already identifying the next one? Why are they not constantly monitoring talented players across Europe, Asia, South America and elsewhere? Why are they not moving quickly when opportunities appear?

The transfer market rewards clubs that act early. Those who hesitate often lose out.

Every Celtic supporter has watched a promising target end up somewhere else because the club delayed, haggled over a fee or simply moved too slowly. By the time Celtic finally decide to act, another club has already signed the player.

The opportunity disappears. Another target is lost.

Another window begins to drift.

Then the excuses arrive. The player was too expensive. The selling club was difficult to negotiate with. The deal became complicated.

It is always the same old story.

And of course it’s obvious how we end up here; once we sell a critical player and then go into the market all the clubs we’re talking to know two things; first that we’re flush with cash and second that we’ve lost key players we need to replace, and so they have a good idea who we’re interested in when they pick up the phone.

And that foreknowledge adds millions to the asking price.

Meanwhile, supporters watch obvious weaknesses in the squad remain unsolved for weeks or even months because we feel like players are over-priced … yet we are the ones who made that happen in the first place!

This is why so many Celtic fans have become deeply frustrated with the board.

The club has generated enormous transfer profits. It has received Champions League income. It has announced record revenues and published financial reports showing extraordinary sums sitting in the bank.

Celtic have the money and the resources to plan properly. We do not need to sell before we can buy. So the real question is whether those resources are being used with enough ambition, intelligence and foresight.

For years, supporters have watched the club approach transfer windows with the same reluctance to take the next step.

Always caution. Always hesitation. Always waiting.

Success creates opportunities, but it also creates risks. The better your players perform, the more likely wealthier clubs are to come calling. That is simply the reality Celtic face. But knowing that, you plan ahead.

Nobody expects every outstanding player to remain at Celtic for his entire career. Supporters understand that some players will eventually want to test themselves in a different league or earn the kind of salary Celtic cannot realistically offer.

That is not the problem. The problem is selling those players without being ready for what comes next.

That is precisely why succession planning should be one of the most important responsibilities inside Celtic Park.

Every position should have potential replacements identified.

Every likely departure should have a contingency plan.

Every transfer window should be approached through preparation rather than panic.

The club should not begin looking for a striker when the existing striker leaves. It should already know who the next striker is.

It should not begin searching for Maeda’s replacement after accepting an offer for him. Celtic should already have a list of players who could potentially fill that role and we should have them in the door before the player they are replacing goes.

The people running the club should be thinking three moves ahead.

Instead, they often appear surprised by situations that everybody else could see coming.

Kyogo’s departure was not a natural disaster. It did not happen without warning. It was a transfer involving negotiations between two football clubs. Celtic knew there was a possibility that he would leave.

Yet the club still appeared unprepared for life without him.

That cannot happen again with Maeda or others.

Maybe my Ginger-Witch instincts are wrong.

Maybe Maeda stays. Maybe Engels turns down the moves. Maybe Celtic have already identified several outstanding potential replacements for both.

Maybe there is a masterplan quietly unfolding behind the scenes, with every move carefully prepared and every target ready to be approached.

I sincerely hope so. But hope is not a transfer strategy.

If top players leave and Celtic are once again caught standing in the middle of the road wondering what happened, the consequences could be enormous.

We cannot continue losing elite players and expecting everything to work itself out magically. Football does not work like that.

The Champions League certainly does not work like that.

Celtic cannot repeatedly weaken the team, waste months attempting to rebuild it and then act surprised when the consequences arrive.

The supporters deserve better.

Celtic should always be looking ahead. The club should always be preparing for the future and thinking three moves ahead instead of one.

If you know a storm might be coming, you do not wait until the rain starts before building a roof.

You build it beforehand.

Celtic need to start doing exactly the same thing in the transfer market.

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