Celtic are heading into the January window with lots of work to do, but there’s one player who came in this summer that looks to have been a mistake.

James McCarthy has come into the club on a massive four-year deal. A deal that reliable sources have told Celtic was brokered and pushed for by our majority shareholder Dermot Desmond.

SalarySports has the player’s wages sitting at £14kpw for the Hoops. That’s 728k per year for a guy who can’t get into the first team.

James has had a stop-start time at the club through injury but he’s only ever got into Ange’s Celtic side when we’ve been heavily depleted.

During the draw against St Mirren, the Irish Republic international was kept on the bench the full game; young Liam Shaw being preferred as a late substitute for Nir Bitton instead of James.

It’s clear James wasn’t an Ange signing and the manager has been lumped with a player he really doesn’t think can play the way he wants. The former Palace player has only started three times for Celtic since coming into the club.

Given the longevity of the deal, there’s still time for James to prove everyone wrong and especially the manager. However, if there was somehow interest in the midfielder in January, if I was Celtic, I’d jump at it.