Sarrachi’s latest comments make Celtic’s contempt all the more incredible.

Sometimes a football story tells you everything without needing some dramatic final chapter.

Marcelo Saracchi has now admitted that he still hopes his Celtic story is not finished. He has spoken openly about wanting to return to Glasgow, about doing everything possible to make that happen and, most importantly, about feeling that Celtic simply did not show enough interest in bringing him back.

And honestly, I find that incredibly frustrating.

Saracchi may be right when he says that things can change in football, but I have to be realistic. His Celtic story probably is finished.

He has moved on to Houston Dynamo, Celtic have moved on too, and during the summer the club looked elsewhere for defensive reinforcements while Saracchi was standing there telling everybody who would listen that he wanted to come back.

That is the part I cannot get my head around. Why did we let him go?

Saracchi has now made it crystal clear that Celtic was not just another loan spell to him. He loved his time at Paradise, loved the supporters and wanted to remain a Celtic player. He has said that he and his agent did absolutely everything they could to make a return happen, but there was simply not enough coming from Celtic’s side.

That should bother us.

Here was a player who had already spent a season at Celtic. He knew the dressing room, the stadium, the pressure and the expectations. He had already experienced what it means to play in front of 60,000 people who demand that you win every week.

He made 27 appearances during a double-winning campaign and provided genuine competition and cover. He had already gone through the settling-in period that so many new signings require, and he wanted Glasgow to remain his home.

Yet somehow Celtic decided to look elsewhere.

I understand that recruitment is complicated. There are contracts, wages, agents, budgets and long-term plans to consider. But football does not always need to be reinvented. Sometimes you already have the answer standing directly in front of you.

And Celtic had Marcelo Saracchi.

What makes it even more frustrating is that Martin O’Neill reportedly wanted him.

That matters because we are not talking about some random player whom supporters became attached to after a few decent performances. We are talking about somebody who had apparently earned the approval of the manager, understood the environment and was desperate to come back.

If O’Neill wanted him, then I want to know why the club did not make it happen.

This is exactly the kind of recruitment decision we should be examining when we talk about the problems Celtic have now.

We cannot complain about squad balance, defensive weaknesses, lack of cohesion and players needing months to adjust while simultaneously allowing somebody who already understood Celtic to disappear out the door.

It makes even less sense when you consider what football increasingly demands from players.

Managers everywhere talk about character, mentality, commitment and having players who will run through walls for them. Supporters want the same thing.

We complain constantly about footballers who look as though they are merely passing through, players who see Celtic as a stepping stone and are already thinking about the next move before they have properly established themselves here.

Saracchi was the opposite.

This was a player effectively standing there saying: “I want Celtic. I want to come back. Give me the chance and I will give you everything.”

In an era when clubs spend millions trying to identify character as well as talent, Celtic had already seen both at close quarters. And, crucially, this was not some £10 million gamble on an unknown quantity. The possibility of bringing Saracchi back was being discussed in terms of a relatively modest fee.

That is what makes it so baffling.

How many players do you find who already know your club, already know your supporters, already know your manager, already understand the demands and are practically volunteering to come back and run through walls for you?

You do not find many. When you do, perhaps you should recognise what you have.

And we let him leave.

That decision looks even stranger now because Celtic’s current campaign has hardly been a picture of defensive stability. We have watched performances where the team has looked vulnerable, disconnected and short of leadership.

Would Marcelo Saracchi have fixed everything?

Of course not. Would he have made this squad better? I believe he would.

And that is all he needed to do.

We did not need him to become the saviour of Celtic. We needed him to be an experienced, committed and reliable member of a squad that was supposed to be strengthened.

Recruitment should not always mean finding somebody new. Sometimes the smartest signing is the player you already know.

That is what frustrates me most about this entire situation. Celtic sometimes seem determined to make football more complicated than it needs to be.

We scout. We analyse. We negotiate. We look abroad. We talk about resale value, profiles, models and long-term strategy. All of those things have their place.

But while everybody is staring at spreadsheets trying to find the next clever solution, sometimes the footballer who already fits the club is standing right in front of you.

Saracchi was there. He wanted to stay. The supporters liked him. He understood the environment. He had contributed to a trophy-winning Celtic side and, according to reports, the manager wanted him too.

So, what exactly were we waiting for? Sometimes I genuinely wonder whether Celtic’s recruitment operation forgets that football is also about people.

That is why I understand Saracchi’s disappointment.

His message when he left already said plenty. He made it clear that he and his representatives had tried to make a return happen and that he was genuinely disappointed it could not be done. Even now, he speaks as though part of him still believes his Celtic story might have another chapter.

Maybe it will. But I doubt it. Football does have a funny habit of bringing people back to places they thought they had left forever.

But if his Celtic story really is finished, then the question should not simply be whether Saracchi was good enough.

The question should be why Celtic allowed a player who wanted us so badly, who already understood the club, who had contributed to a double-winning season and who was reportedly wanted by the manager to walk away when bringing him back would hardly have represented some enormous financial gamble.

At a time when we keep talking about needing players with character, commitment and the mentality to fight for this club, we had one practically banging on the door asking to be let back in.

The Board can talk about recruitment models, long-term strategy, profiles and financial prudence. I will keep coming back to the simplest question of all.

Why were we searching for Marcelo Saracchi’s replacement when Marcelo Saracchi was already there?

Sometimes you do not need fresh blood. Sometimes you simply need to recognise the player standing in front of you. Saracchi had all the qualities we could wish for.

And to let go someone like that is scandalous.

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