Three players Celtic should cut ties with at the end of the season

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Celtic have failed to hit the heights they achieved last term, so will we see a clear out this summer?

This term, Celtic have not built on their unbeaten domestic treble-winning season as they would have hoped.

The Hoops took Scotland by storm in 2016/2017 under the guidance of the newly appointed Brendan Rodgers, finishing the league with 106 points, conceding only 25 goals along the way.

On top of this, the club picked up both domestic cups, dramatically snatching the Scottish Cup away from Aberdeen in the dying moments of the game through a Tom Rogic winner.

So far this campaign, the Hoops have successfully defended their League Cup title and are still on course for both the league and Scottish Cup. However, with a semi-final to play against Rangers and the gap at the top now sitting at only six points, things are not so comfortable anymore for Rodgers and co.

With the summer transfer window in mind, here are three Celtic players the club should cut ties with to free up space for some new arrivals ahead of next season:

Mikael Lustig

The decline of Celtic’s veteran right-back has been well documented, with the Swede having produced shaky performance after shaky performance full of uncharacteristic mistakes compared to the rest of his six seasons at Parkhead.

In the big games in Europe and domestically, Lustig has made some costly errors, and his decline in pace has seen him caught out on too many occasions, leading to calls for him to be dropped by the fans. The 31-year-old has been a fantastic servant to the club over his career, however, is simply too much of a liability and, should his pace decline more, his problems will only become more frequent and extreme.

With Anthony Ralston, 20, lurking in the wings, the sale of Lustig and the addition of a new right-back to compete with the academy graduate would be a welcome move.

Dedryk Boyata

The former Manchester City man has produced some decent displays in a Celtic shirt on occasion, yet he has failed to convince the majority of fans that he is the right man to be lining up at the heart of defence week in, week out. On top of this, the Belgian appears to be fairly injury prone and has missed a lot of games due to long stints on the sidelines.

Aged 27, Boyata should be hitting his stride in his peak years, however, this is yet to be seen in a Celtic shirt. With Jack Hendry, Jozo Simunovic and Kristoffer Ajer all on the books, and with Marvin Compper having arrived in January, perhaps it would make sense to look around Europe in the hope of discovering the new Virgil van Dijk, rather than continue to stick with the under-performing Boyata.

Craig Gordon

The Scotland shot-stopper has produced some fine displays in a Celtic shirt since signing as a free-agent in 2014. But, with Gordon’s history of injury problems, it has felt like the club have been riding their luck since the 35-year-old’s serious injury a couple of months back.

At 35, and with Dorus De Vries, 37, as the back up, the club have young veteran goalies as their number one and two and, if this season’s campaign in Europe is anything to go by, neither ‘keeper looks worthy of the starting shirt at Celtic Park.

For a non-dominant Champions League team, it is imperative to have a terrific goalkeeper, who has the ability to impact games for the better, such as Fraser Forster did for the Hoops between 2011 and 2013, and neither Gordon nor De Vries look to be that man.

Celtic should cut their ties with the Scottish veteran, who has far exceeded expectations since signing four seasons ago, and try to land a new face in the summer between the sticks.