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'Should be the rocks' - Mjallby tells Celtic not to sanction sales at vital stage of the season
Celtic treble-winner Johan Mjallby has advised the Hoops not to sell any of their defenders whilst in the middle of the Champions League qualifiers.
There are doubts surrounding the Hoops futures of Kieran Tierney, Jozo Simunovic and Dedryck Boyata but Mjallby has told the Hoops to wait and do business after the qualifiers have been and gone.
“I’m sure Brendan would rather be safe in the knowledge that a player will be at the club for the whole of the Champions League qualifiers for the next seven or eight weeks” Mjallby said, as quoted by the Sunday Post.
“You don’t want to lose a key player at this stage, particularly a central defender. They should be the rocks of the team.
“After the situation has been resolved – and you are either in the Champions League or not – then things become different.
“That’s when things can happen. Until then, you need everyone focused and alert.”
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The Hoops defensive situation is further complicated by the fact that Boyata will miss the opening rounds of the qualifiers as he is currently at the World Cup with Belgium.
Football Insider verdict
Johan Mjallby’s opinion will be agreed with by all Celtic fans. It would be silly to sell players who will be vital to the Champions League campaign whilst the Hoops are in the middle of the qualifying process. The games will be difficult enough as it is without the Bhoys’ being disrupted by news of a player leaving the side. As the former Hoops treble-winner says, if the Bhoys want to move players on wait until the qualifiers are over. There is no point in causing problems to the side whilst the Hoops are aiming to make the money-spinning group stages. The Hoops side could change dramatically over the next 12 months, but that cannot start until after the Hoops’ fate in the Champions League is known. The Hoops know what is at stake, and Brendan Rodgers and Peter Lawwell will be aware that they will get the blame from fans should the Bhoys sell a key man and not make the group stages.
In other Celtic news, Chris Sutton has discussed Kieran Tierney’s potential departure from the Hoops
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