N a cycle with Celts

Frustration with financial situation as Dembele exit looms

he might be thinking of the possibility of moving on.

“The boy’s been brilliant in his time here for me; committed, absolutely first class, it’s never been an issue.

“But of course there’s also the timing for the club. It’s only three days before the end of the window and the club have to deal with something like this now.

“So there’s a lot to take in, but you certainly can’t let your top striker move on without even having anyone to come in and replace. I thought I could work with two strikers in my first season here. With the number of games and competitions we wanted to be in, that proved to be very difficult. So we need three strikers. How it will evolve over the next three days, I’m unsure. But we’ll deal with it.”

“It’s just timing – it’s like everything in life. Like I say it’s unfortunate that it’s come at this time.

“With Virgil there was a possibility the summer before for him to go. He played on for a year and then got his move a year after.

“When I met with him a few years ago I explained how it could go in terms of him improving and becoming a winner and showing he can play at the highest level.

“All these steps have been taken. It’s something you have to deal with.

“It’s great that you have players with lots of value that can move on , but I think that Celtic is a club with cycles and this is the first of them in my time.”