Having experienced serious problems at centre-back this season, allowing Simunovic to leave would be a disastrous decision from Celtic.
The 23-year-old, who recently switched allegiance from Croatia to Bosnia over lack of opportunities, has emerged as an £8million target for Crystal Palace who are looking to replace Scott Dann, after he was ruled out with injury for the rest of the season.
Simunovic has struggled with injuries himself this season and has found himself in and out of the team, however, he has put in some dominant displays when granted a start.
The treble winner has played over 50 times for the Hoops, yet at 23 you would think Brendan Rodgers will not want to part ways just yet.
Allowing Simunovic to leave would be a foolish decision for Celtic, especially having experienced so many problems at centre-back this season. The Bhoys have often been forced to deploy full-back Mikael Lustig or central midfielder Nir Bitton at the heart of defence in crunch European matches against the likes of PSG and Bayern Munich.
It can safely be said that Celtic were well and truly punished on each occasion.
With the out of favour Erik Sviatchenko being told he can leave, if Simunovic also departs Celtic would be left with Dedryk Boyata, teenager Kristoffer Ajer and the ageing Marvin Compper as the main centre-back options.
As experienced this season, four centre-back options are often not enough, let alone three.
The Celts are by no means financially unstable and, having just earned a healthy sum from Virgil van Dijk’s £75million transfer from Southampton to Liverpool, they are definitely not in need of the £8million offering from Crystal Palace.
If anything, Van Dijk’s rise to prominence should be a clear indicator for Rodgers and his team that they should remain strong in terms of asking prices from rich Premier League buyers.
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