John Collins-Players will leave Celtic this summer

He'll care. If a player sets their heart on leaving a club then it's a pretty safe bet they'll be offski. No point keeping an unhappy player hanging around the dressing room, that helps nobody.

 

If he cares, he will burst his * and keep young Tierney out of the team.

Tierney can learn a lot from Izzy, Lustig and even Mulgrew. No harm in having all around, and certainly no harm in keeping Izzy around.

If he doesn't like a spot of competition for his spot, then he is in the wrong sport.

 

Double bingo.

Izzy never showed any signs of wanting to leave in fact I think he resisted the notion before his injury many moons ago. All we have so far is a plant in the media about him being off which may have come from our club or even his agent. As it is there is no evidence that the player is unhappy so letting sleeping dogs lie is the only show in town. If he makes a massive fuss then we could look at it but we all remember our troubles with left backs over the years. Now we have two let's keep it that way.

Also nobody knows what the future holds. Tierney could get injured, start going on the tear, meet the wrong woman. So at his age it is critical we have cover. Having Izzy there will be good for his development anyway because if he thinks the place is his then he might lose focus. No need to rock the boat at all. If Izzy has to leave on a bosman so be it he has been a great servant to the club and you cant put a price on having a potential lifer at the club who is also a left back the hardest position in football to sign. No doubt Pete will be horrified to have a high earner as a back up but * em it's what's best for the club long term.

 

I'm not disagreeing with the notion that it would be a good move for Celtic to hang on to both Izaguirre and Tierney. I'm simply stating that if Izaguirre sits on the bench much longer then Celtic's best interests will no longer be compatible with Emilio Izaguirre's best interests. When we reach that point, he will want to leave. He's an International footballer, he's not going to be happy sitting on the bench in the Scottish Premiership watching an 18yo lad playing in front of him. If I was him I wouldn't be happy doing that either.

 

Nor would I but he did sign a contract and that works both ways, look at the Forrest situation I am not happy he is off but what can ye do? Now Izzy has two years left and we should use this to our advantage. Of course I know what you're saying but sometimes in football players take your spot and I dont really think Izzy is the type to be driven to the point of unprofessionalism as I assume this is what you are getting at. I think we are safe enough that even if not in the first team then Izzy will behave himself and do a job if and when needed.

 

I like how you conveniently choose to label Izzaguirre as "an international footballer " and Tierney as "18 year old lad " .

I would have said " left back " and " far better left back" .

 

I like the confidence and on what we have seen I think you are right because dont get me wrong I think young Tierney looks like the real deal. I really think he will be a top full back however I tend to be cautious regarding players in the same age bracket look at Tony Watt for instance and not even that form can be lost and consistency has to be shown in the long term but at the same time if I was to bet on it I dont see any problems with Tierny.

 

Balls in our corner, like I said before is Izzy the kinda guy that's going to i jure folk in training and start scraps if he's unhappy? I doubt it. A good manager keeps him and uses his anger about being on the bench to channel it into getting back in the team.

It's about competition.

If we sell off players as soon as there's a bit of compeition then we've gave up the ghost.

 

Spot on politician

 

No, I am not talking about being unprofessional. I am talking about an established international footballer wanting to move on to a new club because he's lost his place in the team to an 18yo. That to me is not unprofessional. Most footballers in that situation would likely also want to move on eventually. That's just life.

Unprofessionalism would be not training properly or not giving his all if Kieran Tierney got suspended for a game or two and Izaguirre got brought back into the team to fill the gap. I am not accusing him of anything like that.

 

This . Getting in the Honduras side doesn't make you Bobby Carlos a bit of competition will do him good .

 

Why do you keep wording it like that ? To try and make it sound like Izzy is being hard done by ?

Tierney's the better option .

 

And which one of those two statements was factually incorrect?

The ball's never really in the club's corner anymore. If a player gets it in his mind that he wants to leave then he, or his agent, will find a way to make it happen.

It's a perfect situation for Celtic and Izaguirre to go their separate ways. Celtic have a young full-back who needs to play in order to develop and Izaguirre needs first team football in order to ensure he keeps his place in the Honduras team.

This is just what happens in football. Sometimes the relationship between a club and a player comes to a crossroads and a natural parting of the ways. I think that's where Celtic and Emilio Izaguirre are headed.

 

It's not a lerfect situation at all. We have no Izzy, Tierney gets injured and we're back to Efe Ambrose at left back.

 

Charlie Mulgrew?

Well obviously if Izaguirre leaves in the summer you would hope that we would sign a replacement. Mind you, knowing our board, you couldn't guarantee that happening.

 

But then we sign a replacement and he can't get in do we let him go? Charlie's out of contract in the summer, does he, the internation footballer, sit behind the 18 year old left back as well?

 

If you're not worried about Izzaguirre becoming unprofessional or downing tools, then why wouldn't it be in Celtic's best interests to just keep him as good LB cover? He has two years left on his deal and would mean better strength in depth .

 

Good because weather he likes it or not he is under contract for two years.

 

There are players out there who'd be happy just to be part of the squad at Celtic, like Lukasz Zaluska was.

Mulgrew's situation wouldn't be the same as Izaguirre's. Izaguirre is a left-back, nothing else. He can't play any other position. Mulgrew is a Swiss army knife. He can play four or five different positions so he's not going to be in direct competition with Kieran Tierney. He'd be an occasional fill in at left-back, the same as he's been in the past.

 

I think with 2 years left on his contract, it's fine keeping Izzy amd letting him go at the end of that.

It's nothing but competition mate, that's healthy at a club. Mulgrew's been injured for about 2 seasons as well and is it out of contract next season, what do you think the safer bet as a back up would be?

It'll do Tierney's growth no good if he hits a bad patch and he's the only person their to be relied upon. Young players you need to protect at times, he won't always be in this sort of form, an assured presence at the back. Young players suffer a wee bump.