Cashing In On Johnston and Engels—Are We Just Patching Holes Again?

The Money Is Coming In. The Money Was Never The Problem.

Alistair Johnston is on his way out.

Around £14 million, with Everton circling the Canada right-back.

That’s a very good fee for a very good full-back.

Nobody is going to argue with the price.

But here’s the bit that always worries me.

We’re brilliant at the selling part.

It’s everything after that where things get sticky.

Because a £14 million sale only counts as good business if you actually reinvest it properly.

And that’s not exactly been our strong suit, has it?

Sell First. Panic Later. Sound Familiar?

This is the pattern I keep coming back to.

We identify the cash.

We bank the cash.

Then we spend six weeks “monitoring the situation” while everyone else strengthens.

Cameron Carter-Vickers is back from his Achilles problem, and Martin O’Neill has already said he has no plans to bring in a centre-half.

Fine. That’s fair enough if CCV is genuinely fit.

But right-back is a completely different conversation.

Because if Johnston goes for £14 million, we have to replace the most crucial figure in the defensive line.

Are Donovan And Ralston Really Enough?

Let’s be honest about what we’d be left with.

Anthony Ralston.

Colby Donovan.

And that’s the depth chart.

Ralston is a brilliant squad man, a proper Celtic supporter in a Celtic shirt, and I’ll never say a bad word about his attitude.

But is he a first-choice right-back for a side wanting to compete in the Champions League?

Is he the man you want defending against elite wingers in September?

Deep down, we all know the answer.

I said back in May that full-back was the position we couldn’t afford to get wrong. Nothing since then has changed my mind.

Colby Donovan is a different case. Young. Athletic. Genuinely exciting.

Exactly the sort of academy player we should be handing minutes to.

But there’s a difference between blooding a young full-back and forcing him to carry an entire position because we sold the man in front of him and didn’t replace him.

That’s not a pathway.

That’s a gap dressed up as a pathway.

Johnston gave us reliability.

Even though his injury last season kept him out for most of the season, I feel he still owes us to stay for the Champions League playoff against LASK.

Then There’s Engels

And apparently it doesn’t stop there.

The Arne Engels links won’t go away.

Are they true? It seems so, as Martin O’Neill confirmed it in a recent press conference.

Is there an actual bid? Is it verbal interest? Is it a journalist filling column inches on a quiet Tuesday?

If Engels does go, that’s a big-money Belgian international walking out the door in the same window as our first-choice right-back.

Two starters.

One summer.

And we’d be scrambling to fill both holes at once.

Is Gvidas Gineitis The Answer?

Which brings us to the name doing the rounds.

Celtic are reportedly ready to submit a new offer for Torino’s Gvidas Gineitis, with the Serie A side wanting around £12 million.

On paper? I actually quite like it.

22 years old.

A Lithuanian international.

Genuine Serie A midfield minutes already banked.

That’s a proper profile.

Not a project. Not a punt. Not another “one for the future” we file away and forget about.

A player entering his best years in one of Europe’s top leagues.

That’s the sort of recruitment I’ve been begging for.

But—and there’s always a but—£12 million for Gineitis only makes sense as an Engels replacement, not an Engels upgrade.

If we sell one of our most expensive midfielders and simply spend the money standing still, what exactly have we achieved?

Swapping one good midfielder for another isn’t ambition.

It’s admin.

“Progressive business.” Really?

Here’s Where I Land

I don’t hate any of this in isolation.

£14 million for Johnston is good money.

Gineitis at £12 million could be a smart signing.

Donovan deserves his chance.

But it only works if it’s a plan rather than a fire sale.

Sell Johnston, then sign a right-back. A real one.

If Engels goes too, reinvest every penny, not most of it.

Because we’ve been here before.

We cash in.

We stall.

We patch the holes in the final week of August and call it a strategy.

Meanwhile, the Adams family across the city are busy chasing their own targets, and nobody over there seems in any hurry to sell before they buy with their Belgian midfielder.

For me, the money isn’t the issue.

It never has been.

The issue is whether Celtic will finally use it like a club with genuine ambition—or once again like a club terrified of spending its own money…