With Celtic's rivals just employing an unexperienced, out of form coach, trailing Celtic by 9 points and facing a mass exodus of players this January and next summer...it would of course be Celtic in the Scottish press back pages with stories of imminent player departures.
If the stories are to be believed, free scoring striker Giorgos Giakoumakis and Croatian international right back Josip Juranovic are poised for moves away after failing to agree upon improved contracts. Improved terms were mooted to both players before they initially signed if they were to have successful first seasons.
Both players have been pivotal to Celtic's success under Postecoglu and if you take either out of the matchday squad now, we would be considerably weaker. Juranovic's pace up and down the right flank, his ability to whip in a decent ball and his willingness to beat his man are all attributes which form a vital part of Celtic's current relentless DNA. Giokoumakis has proved more than just a goal poacher with his press and hold up play, whilst also having an absolutely lethal eye for goal domestically.
Rumours of players angling for a move away (whether it be themselves or their agents) is certainly not an alien concept to the Celtic support. In recent years, Moussa Dembele, Odsonne Edouard, Kris Ajer and Dedryck Boyata have all been accused of downing tools after having their eyes turned towards teams in the top 5 European leagues. This is unfortunately part of modern football, but by the same token, it fortunately seems like something Ange is more than canny to.
When discussing Ajer before his move to Brentford, the manager had this to say: “The guys who are going to leave will leave, that’s not my department. I’m concentrating on the ones who are involved. I can’t afford to waste time on anyone other than the ones who are here and committed to being here."
His stance has certainly not changed on this either as he looks to other clubs across the continent who operate in similar sharky transfer waters.
"Every couple of years they regenerate. We need to push forward aggressively in the next two to three years." He said shortly after Celtic's Champions League campaign. And already, there does seem to be lingering talk of players coming in to potentially replace some of the current crop.
Alistair Johnston, who plays in JJ's position, is supposedly on the brink of signing a deal worth around £4 million pounds. The Montreal right back has put in a couple of decent performances for Canada at this World Cup and would be a like for like replacement with an aggressive style in both defence and attack.
Similarly in the offensive positions, Celtic are one of a number of European clubs attempting to sign South Korea striker Cho Gue-sung according to various news outlets. This would also be a move which effectively cancels out the harm of a leaving party, as he would more than make up for losing the aerial presence of Giakoumakis.
Whatever happens, it is hugely refreshing that we now seem to be running as a forward thinking club who acknowledge the harsh realities of where we are in the European market. Clubs such as Porto, Ajax and Benfica have been resigned to losing their star players for years, yet still manage to perform admirably on Europe's biggest stage. this is due in part to their aggressive playing trading model.
In the past, it could be argued that hanging onto players such as Ajer and Edouard cost Celtic heavily during our failed ten in a row campaign. We kept hold of Boyata whilst he was angling for a move and I am certain that the toxicity around that situation played a part in our Champions league qualifying loss to AEK Athens in 2018. There's no room for sentiment in football and it will be interesting to see how we evolve as a club over the next couple of transfer windows and European campaigns.