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Celtic reasserted their dominance in Glasgow at the weekend with an assured win over Old Firm rivals Rangers at Parkhead. It was a dominant display of which the 1-0 scoreline did not do Celtic justice.
It has been a tough summer for Celtic. The club have had a battle on their hands in the transfer market. Keeping hold of players has been tough. Stuart Armstrong and Moussa Dembele both left whilst Celtic managed to out-price teams from a Kieran Tierney swoop. Then there was the Dedryck Boyata ordeal, with Celtic eventually managing to keep hold of the Belgian defender.
At a club like Celtic transfer business is very important to future success. When players decide they want to leave, often Celtic struggle to keep hold.
But they also need to ensure they cash in at the right moment. For example, look at Scott Sinclair.
In the summer of 2017, he was being heavily linked with a move back to England. He had just scored 25 goals in 50 games for the Scottish champions, so that made sense. There was even discussion around a potential England call-up.
Celtic could have easily cashed in for a handsome fee that summer. However, he had only been at Parkhead for one season and neither club or player wanted to do a transfer.
One year on, and Celtic will wish they had found a way to cash in. Whilst Sinclair is still an important member of the squad, he is mostly being used as a substitute. The emergence of Callum McGregor and form of James Forrest has Sinclair surplus to requirements.
With his place regularly on the Celtic bench and the fact he turns 30 this season, Sinclair’s value has likely diminished dramatically. If the Bhoys they have paid for the winger, they would have done good business.
With Sinclair unlikely to want to sit around on the bench, he will surely consider an exit in January if the situation remains the same. At which point Celtic will have a fight on their hands to recoup a decent transfer fee.