Celtic pundit Paul John Dykes has spoken about the possibility of nine players being unhappy at Parkhead.
Dykes was hosting the latest episode of the ‘A Celtic State of Mind’ podcast and the panel discussed multiple issues involving the Bhoys. Dykes talked about the possibility of as many as nine players being unhappy at Celtic and he spoke about who these players can potentially be.
Odsonne Edouard, Ryan Christie, Olivier Ntcham and Kristoffer Ajer were linked with moves away from Celtic in the summer transfer window. The Hoops signed Mohamed Elyounoussi, Diego Laxalt and Shane Duffy on loan, while Vasilis Barkas, David Turnbull and Albian Ajeti arrived on permanent deals (as per Transfermarkt).
When talking about whether Neil Lennon has lost the dressing room at Celtic or not, Dykes talked about the possibility of nine of those 10 players being unhappy at the club, raising concerns that Neil Lennon may have ‘lost the dressing room’.
Do you think nine players are unhappy at Celtic?
Yes
No
He said: “Against Ferencvaros, Neil Lennon comes out and he speaks about certain players wanting away from the club. Who would those players be? Could it be Ryan Christie, who hasn’t signed a new contract? Could it be Kristoffer Ajer, who there’s been interest [towards] from AC Milan?
“Could it be Edouard, who Neil Lennon has specifically spoken about in terms of telling him just to get on with it and that’s the way it is going to be until the end of the season, potentially January now? Or could it be Ntcham, where there was actual interest in the last transfer window?
“So there are four players who he might have been referring to, and again, I’m speculating on that based on the evidence. You then look at the six players that Lenny’s brought in in the last transfer window. You’ve got Barkas – is he happy sitting on the bench last night? I don’t think so. You’ve got Turnbull – is he happy that he’s barely kicked a ball? I doubt it very much. Elyounoussi – he didn’t look happy when he was walking off the pitch. You’ve got Ajeti, who hasn’t played two full games in a row. You’ve got Duffy, who’s in the worst form of his life.
“And you’ve got Laxalt, who is the only chink of light in terms of the new signings. So you’ve got six new signings, you’ve got four guys who may have been referred to after the Ferencvaros game.
“Potentially you’ve got nine players, now nine players are unhappy.
“I think that is what you would call ‘losing the dressing room’.”
TIF Thoughts on Dykes’ comments…
While Dykes does mention that he’s only speculating, Scott Brown recently said that Celtic’s recent showing against Sparta Prague wasn’t a team performance and it involved only a group of individuals on the pitch (as per the Scottish Sun).
Even Neil Lennon accused the Celtic players of a ‘lack of hunger’ in the game against Sparta Prague. This might suggest that something indeed isn’t right at Celtic and Dykes’ claim might just have some element of truth in it.