On the pitch, this Celtic team are a winning machine, a gargantuan that doesn’t know how to not win trophies.
Off the pitch, the Hoops continue to score big and very costly own goals.
Two years ago, Celtic refused to meet Hibernian’s £3.5 million valuation for John McGinn and a year later he was valued at £50 million after joining Aston Villa.
That same summer, the Bhoys rejected a £9 million bid from Fulham for Dedryck Boyata [The Standard], who they kept to the last year of his contract and then wound up losing him for free.
And now they’ve just done some more terrible business.
Celtic have released Jozo Simunovic after deciding against offering him a one-year extension.
The Croat hasn’t been a huge player under Neil Lennon – especially not this past season – but he’s a figure who had a £5 million price-tag on his head last summer [Scottish Sun] and now he’s another high-profile defender who the club have lost for absolutely nothing.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that that’s £14 million on Boyata and Simunovic that the club have lost by not selling the duo.
Celtic’s chief executive Peter Lawwell has done a lot right during his time in Glasgow, but there’s also some gaffes and every now and again and losing the former Dinamo Zagreb star for free might go down as another one.
Even if he didn’t have a huge role to play this past season, he’s only 25 and there’s still a lot of potential there. Is it unthinkable that he could’ve been worth £5 million again at some point in the future? Not really.
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