Former Celtic player turned critical pundit Charlie Nicholas has urged Celtic to get a deal done for Ryan Christie at all costs.
Like the rest of us, Charlie has been watching Ryan excel in recent games under Ange Postecoglou’s guidance and his three assists against Dundee were all quality contributions.
The player is in the final few months of his Celtic deal after someone at the club sanctioned a contract that would see the midfielder’s deal run out mid-season.
Ryan is free to talk to other clubs at the moment about a January move and there’s been nothing to suggest Celtic and Ryan are anywhere close to an agreement for him to stay on.
The Scottish international has ambitions to play in the English Premier League and he could be looking to make that move sooner rather than later.
For Nicholas, and many other fans, he thinks Celtic should be making sure they tie Christie down in the coming weeks.
The pundit even claiming Celtic should sell Leigh Griffiths or Ismaila Soro to fund the contract.
As quoted by Sun, “Celtic must raise the funds to keep Ryan Christie – even if it means selling other players to do so. Hat-trick hero Kyogo Furuhashi got all the headlines after last weekend’s 6-0 win over Dundee but Christie was the main man with his passing and pace.
“Christie is in the final year of his contract but rather than trying to cash in on him now for, say, £5million, Celtic should push the boat out to get him tied down to a new deal because it would cost a lot more to replace him.
“There is talk that the club will make him a new offer but why didn’t they do that weeks ago? If it comes down to it, they should sell Leigh Griffiths or Ismaila Soro to fund his wages.”
Ryan was a fall guy for Celtic last season but he was playing in a system under a manager who did very little to inspire or educate. He was told he could shoot on sight and it became a source of great frustration for the fans.
This season, he’s already playing with more of a purpose. Sceptics will say Ryan’s playing for his move away – maybe he is – only time will tell.
