Pundit Paul John Dykes has recently made a claim about Jonny Hayes and his Celtic exit earlier this summer.
Dykes was hosting the latest episode of the A Celtic State of Mind podcast and the panel discussed many issues involving the Parkhead club. One thing that they focused on was Celtic’s model for transfers and the manner in which they operate in the market. This led to Dykes talking about Hayes and he claimed that Neil Lennon actually wanted to keep the player at Parkhead.
Hayes had left Celtic earlier this summer and joined Aberdeen on a free transfer. The Irishman had made 68 appearances in all competitions during his time at Parkhead and had directly contributed to nine goals. He is currently valued at £540k.
Speaking on Celtic’s recruitment model, Dykes claimed that Lennon wanted to keep Hayes at Celtic, despite being allowed to leave the club for free, suggesting that the Celtic manager prioritised the club’s transfer strategy over keeping players he liked, such as the 33-year-old Irishman.
He said: “They’ll say, let’s say it is [Jeremie] Frimpong that came in as the right-back, is there is a sell-on possibility to make a profit on him? Absolutely. What age is he, 19? They are looking at that model all the time. The sentimentality that you and I have, that goes out of the window. Because it is business, it is just cold, hard business for the Celtic decision-makers.
Were Celtic wrong to let Hayes leave?
Yes
No
“To the point where players are actually let go that Neil Lennon probably wanted to keep, because I think he wanted to keep Jonny Hayes, but he is let go.”
TIF Thoughts…
During his time at Parkhead, Hayes had played in a lot of different positions for Celtic. He had played in the left-back position and had also played in the left of the midfield, while he also occasionally played in attacking midfield and on the right flank (as per Transfermarkt). Last year, he scored as Celtic defeated Rangers 2-0 in the season’s first Old Firm derby.
All this goes to show how versatile a player Hayes was at Celtic and perhaps how useful he was in the big games, and that may be a reason why Lennon could have wanted him to stay at the club.