Chris Sutton has tipped quintet Dedryck Boyata, Scott Brown, Scott Sinclair, Olivier Ntcham and Mikael Lustig to quit Celtic at the end of the season.
He is certain that Boyata will depart the Hoops, and it is getting “more and more convinced” that Celtic veteran Brown is in his last season with the club.
The BT Sport pundit expects that centre-back Lustig will not last at the club, and says that Sinclair’s future at Parkhead beyond this term is not certain and added that Ntcham could be offloaded by the end of the season at least.
“The loans will return to their parent clubs, Dedryck Boyata will leave and I am becoming more and more convinced this will be Scott Brown’s last season at Parkhead,” he said in his Daily Record column.
“Mikael Lustig will probably go, I’d imagine Scott Sinclair’s future beyond this year is in doubt and Olivier Ntcham is likely to be sold at the end of the campaign, if not sooner.
“All of a sudden it looks like this Celtic team is coming to the end of its cycle, to nick Pedro Caixinha’s old phrase. They’ll need half a new team.”
OPINION
If the Hoops did end up losing the five players that Sutton has raised doubts over, then it would leave Brendan Rodgers in a right mess. Imagine how many new signings he would have to make if they did? It is not like Sutton has named players who have not been influential recently though. The likes of Sinclair have been in great form lately, and he would really leave a gaping hole if he did depart. Boyata does look like he is going to leave, and with Filip Benkovic returning to Leicester at the end of the season, surely Rodgers should be looking at bringing some new centre-backs in? Perhaps that is not a number one priority in January, but come the summer, it is something that he should definitely look at. These potential exits will have a huge impact on the quality on the Celtic team, so the manager must start looking at players who are capable of filling their boots.