Football is a selfish sport and there is no bigger spotlight on that selfishness than during the transfer window. Loyalty goes out the window as everyone has their own best interests at heart and the right money from the right club can tempt anyone away.
Some players in the Celtic squad have bigger summers ahead than others with their careers approaching a crossroads. This summer could be the opportunity for some players to save their careers and pursue their own ambitions or, in other cases, this summer could be about deciding how your legacy as a footballer is defined.
Here are 3 Celtic players with big decisions to make on their futures this summer.
Stephen Welsh
Stephen Welsh has found minutes hard to come by in recent years. Despite making a positive start to last season, the loan arrival of Moritz Jenz meant that Welsh began to slip down the pecking order. Whilst possessing a lot of the foundations of a good modern-day centre-back, Welsh’s lack of minutes at Celtic means that he will find it difficult to progress as a player and weed out the weaknesses in his game, something that would inevitably come with regular first-team football.
In recent seasons we have seen an increase in young Scottish players moving to Italy with the likes of Aaron Hickey, Lewis Ferguson, and Josh Doig proving to be big hits in Serie A. Hickey’s form won him a money-spinning move to Brentford last summer, while Ferguson and Doig both look to have big moves in their futures.
Stephen Welsh will no doubt have his own ambitions to make a splash in the flourishing Scotland national team, so perhaps following the route to Italy to join Hellas Verona or Bologna, who have been recently linked with a move for the defender, could be the right move for his career.
David Turnbull
David Turnbull’s last few seasons at Celtic have been pretty unfortunate. As much as his game time has been limited over the last year or so, we must not forget how important a role he played in the early stages of Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic rebuild. Starting most of the games in those opening months, the fast-paced Postecoglou style of football didn’t seem to be passing him by.
However, an injury in the 2021-22 League Cup final again Hibs started to derail his momentum at the club. Turnbull’s injury coincided with the January arrivals of Reo Hatate and Matt O’Riley, both of whom hit the ground running and then some, securing their starting positions in Celtic’s midfield relatively quickly.
This meant Turnbull had become a bench player without really putting a foot wrong. With plenty of names ahead of him in the pecking order already and with Odin Thiago Holm now added to that list, unless Brendan Rodgers sees David Turnbull as a 10 in his Celtic team then it may be time for Turnbull to look towards a move elsewhere.
Similar to Stephen Welsh, he will have his own personal ambitions and he isn’t going to achieve them sitting on the Celtic bench.
Kyogo Furuhashi
The thought of Kyogo Furuhashi potentially moving on to another club leaves a feeling of existential dread amongst Celtic fans. The Japanese has been Celtic’s talisman and the face of the Ange Postecoglou revolution at Celtic since he arrived back in 2021.
However, at the age of 28, Kyogo has a big decision to make. He moved to Celtic to break into the European game, and with the sharks beginning to circle after arguably the best season of his career, then now may be the time for Kyogo to secure that move to a top 5 league and further establish his name in European football.
On the other side of the coin, the possibility of becoming a Celtic legend and playing under a top manager in Brendan Rodgers may just be enough to keep Kyogo at the club. Kyogo has settled into life in Glasgow well and if he can be sold on the vision for the future, the same way that Brendan Rodgers was himself, then Kyogo could see Celtic as his home for the foreseeable future. We certainly hope he does.
James McKenzie
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