Brendan Rodgers heads to face Aston Villa still not finished with this term’s Champions League adventure.
But Jota’s January arrival and other key moves says planning is fully underway for next season’s huge summer dates. Games which decide whether their progress is maintained or wasted because, pure and simple, Celtic can’t build further in the competition if they aren’t in it.
Big circles must already be around the 2025/26 qualifiers. The dreaded make-or-break shootouts. Celtic can’t be caught short. They have to be absolutely in-tune when they hit them and Brendan Rodgers, who has been through them all before, knows that fine well.
Jota in, Kyogo out, Kasper Schmeichel’s deal done, arrangements for Kieran Tierney’s arrival. It’s the forward planning that Celtic have stood accused of not doing properly in the past. Rodgers has so far been spared the stresses since his return due to coefficient, but he didn’t have that luxury in his first spell and is well versed on the tests.
He has a 2-1 success rate in those qualifiers, but all three of them brought their own severe issues. Rodgers was left basically without a backline in attempt one as his team got past Lincoln Red Imps and Astana before scrambling past Hapoel Be’er Sheva on a sweaty night in Israel. Relatively-untried Eoghan O’Connell started in Kazakhstan, Kolo Toure drafted in late to face Hapoel.
Campaign two and it was Kristoffer Ajer who had to go into the reshaped backline against Rosenborg to help earn the play-off where Astana were again sunk. The third one was just too much. Celtic came a cropper against AEK Athens with a young Jack Hendry forced into defence as Dedryck Boyata declared himself unavailable and Moussa Dembele wanted out.
Celtic have had Tom Rogic playing as a striker, players absent or not signed, players hoping to leave. It seemed midfielder Nir Bitton answering an SOS to take-up his position in the centre of the backline for a crucial qualifier was an annual event.
Meticulous Rodgers will want his squad as close to finalised as it possibly can be at that stage of the summer and fully prepped throughout pre-season, a scenario which was so important this terms as he got his plans across clearly in the USA and the likes of Nicolas Kuhn exploded into life to be flying by competitive kick-off.
With no major international tournament this summer, no-one back late and a chance for the full unit to work together in those vital first weeks. In that respect, it begins to make the sale of Kyogo midway through the campaign seem perfectly logical.
Without qualifiers this term, Celtic could afford to wait until late before getting a deal over the line for Adam Idah leaving the Japanese as the only recognised striker for the majority of August. That situation can’t be repeated ahead of a key qualifier.
Kyogo leaving now means a new striker can sign with time to bed into the squad through the second half of this campaign and be fully integrated for next with a pre-season amongst the group also under his belt. Jota returning gives him time to get minutes and matches following a period of relative inactivity through his spells in Saudi Arabia and France. Tierney should be firmly in place by the summer, if not beforehand. There won’t be any issues over the goalkeeping situation with Schmeichel’s contract extension triggered.
Due to the complexities of the summer window and the fact that the bigger leagues do not begin to look at business until later than clubs such as Celtic, more than once, the Parkhead club have been caught short.
Sometimes not of their own making, but that’s neither here nor there. The bottom line is you have to be ready. The final pages of this season’s Champions League story have yet to be written. With their 12 points safely packed into the kit hamper for the trip to England’s Midlands, Celtic have freedom as they face Villa in Birmingham.
Should it be, as expected, it’s a play-off place, February’s double-header will be glamorous, even though extremely tough. It’s where Celtic want to be, mixing with the elite in the later stages of the competition as opposed to being bumped out without a whimper before Christmas.
Rodgers and the club have made too much progress this season in the Champions League just to let it all slip through their fingers in these next qualifiers. January moves suggest they intend to be fully tooled-up when they come around and ensure any failure is not down to a failure in preparation.
Given the golden moments and experiences of this campaign, that makes perfect sense. Celtic have gathered pound notes and prestige from work to burst through to the play-off stage. Crucially, their pride at Europe’s top level has been restored.
Regardless of what happens beyond Villa Park this campaign, Rodgers and the club will be determined to build on it and push for even more progressive Celtic steps in the Champions League.
But whether that development can continue or it is brutally halted dead in its tracks will depend on the outcome of the summer gruellers. It is going to be vital for Rodgers to have everything fully operational for those matches. Judging by the movements in this transfer window, that task is already being undertaken.