Calm on Celtic exits as Jullien, Ajeti and McCarthy linked

Celtic recorded their second Premiership win of the season on the road against Ross County. Late goals from Moritz Jenz and Liel Abada gave Ange Postecoglou’s side all three points to come back down from the Highlands. While Ange Postecoglou has confirmed the Scottish champions will look to strengthen in the coming weeks of the window.

Despite this, it is expected that there will be exits towards the end of the window. Centre-back Christopher Jullien, midfielder James McCarthy, winger Mikey Johnston and striker Albian Ajeti appear to be suitors to exit Celtic Park as the manager seeks to finalize his squad by the end of the season. window.

Christopher Jullien

Christopher Jullien’s Celtic career seems over. The club allowed the player to travel to Germany to speak to Schalke before the deal fell apart, but the fact that he was not included in the 29-year-old exposed his frustrations over his lack of playing time last season, but that appeared to backfire with many in support seeing him as a childish defender, given how tight the league was. The player made 62 appearances for Celtic, scoring ten goals and picking up three pieces of silverware. Most memorable, he scored the winner at Hampden against Rangers as well as the victory over Lazio. He will likely leave the club this summer with German and French clubs keen on the former £7million defender.

Albian Ajeti

The Swiss striker went unnoticed at Celtic. At just 25 years old, Ajeti still has his best years ahead of him. Having signed from West Ham in the summer of 2020, Ajeti was tipped to find his form from Basel. Although in 48 appearances, he has scored just 9 times and assisted five times in that span. There haven’t been many links in recent weeks regarding the Swiss internationalist’s moves. As a high earner, the club will want to take Ajeti off the wage bill as he wants to play football regularly.

Celtic v Dundee United – Albian Ajeti battles for the ball. Photo: Jane Barlow

James McCarthy

The 31-year-old completed a dream move to Celtic last summer but has been an under-involved player. Sunderland, who were promoted to the Championship via the play-offs, have been linked with the player. Given his age, the player will want regular football and given his likely salary, Celtic will want to move him if he’s not in the manager’s plans. Aiden McGeady took McCarthy’s thoughts in an exchange as they met, with the Ireland internationalist saying he wanted to play. It will certainly be worth the wait to see if McCarthy is at Celtic in early September.

James McCarthy (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)

Mikey Johnston

Ronny Deila’s Standard Liege have been linked with a move for the tricky winger. Johnston has talent in abundance, he is a player who can capture the imagination of the support but he lacks consistency. Whether that’s down to his ability to retain a place on the pitch or not remains to be seen, but it looks like the manager wants to see how Johnston develops with a run of games under his belt. At just 23, Johnston has plenty of time as a footballer but little time to prove he is up to it at Celtic. This season will be decisive for him and it is important that he can get a loan to prove his qualities from afar.

Celtic’s Mikey Johnston

It will be an interesting few weeks to see who is leaving the club and the status of his departure, whether he is ready or permanent. The manager said he will be looking for a few more players before the window closes which would certainly help given that the Champions League group stages are looming.

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