If the return of Kieran Tierney has been something to pass by in the last few months, then Celtic may have just reached the dive of the century when securing the services of the Parkhead favorite on a free transfer.
Fresh from making his first start in almost two years in Arsenal's 1-1 draw against Brentford at the weekend, the full-back seems to have sent that persistent concerns about his physical vulnerability to the garbage can.
You can't help it, but you wonder if Mikel Arteta, a man who is not afraid of a little self-specture, has difficulty falling asleep at night, to think about the failure of his club to go the option to keep Tierney's services for another year.
So long it seemed that Tierney had lost the confidence of his manager after the cursed happiness that he had spent huge parts of his time in North Londs at the treatment table. Lies, knee, ankle, hamstring – you name it, he hurt it.
But a part of his anatomy that has been clearly unpunished has been his heart, both proven by the steel way in which he fought his way back in the first team image and by the conviction of his will to return 'home' to his first love Celtic.
It has emerged that the 27-year-old options as diverse and attractively rejected as Bayer Leverkusen, Juventus, Sevilla and Everton to tie back to life in Glasgow's East End.
The fact that the club collected him only six years after collecting £ 25 million for his services, must feel like a player who looks Voodoo Magic at those jealous eyes, looks from the city at Rangers.
The reality is certainly starting to come home for Arsenal fans, who flood social media with lamentations about the loss of a man who clearly gives his team 100 percent in a way that just seems strange in the modern era.
The affection in which he is held by supporters and teammates was clear in the fear experienced by everyone when a first half of header was excluded by VAR in the weekend.
With Arsenal struck by injuries across the board this season, Arteta had to become creative in certain areas of the field in his attempt to try to keep pace with Liverpool while entering the Champions League. In a fully fit Tierney he has a flexible friend who can play anywhere on the left side of the field, where the shot on left-back is deployed, the midfield left and even left wing appears again since the beginning of the year.
He can expect much more playing time between now and the end of the season, and nobody deserves a fairy -tale finish more than the man who has endured so selfless and stubbornly because of all the setbacks and rejections that have happened to him.
Should Arsenal close the track against Real Madrid in the second stage of their quarter-final epic on Wednesday evening, then Celtic could still find a Champions League winner in their team next season with a Champions League winner. It would be a redemption story to surpass them all.
Jeremie Frimpong is the gift that continues to give for Celtic
Good things on full-backs can be a bit of a theme in Parkhead this summer, especially when Jeremie Frimpong confirms his exit from Bayer Leverkusen in the coming weeks.
The Dutch International is generally expected to replace Real Madrid-bound Trent Alexander-Arnold in Liverpool, with Frimpong so far giving the biggest hint of his future at a comic moment that was caught on the camera on the camera last month.
Frimpong was filmed with greeting from international colleague Ryan Gravenberch and spotting a heavy scouse -accent every week while the pair warmed up in the Dutch camp on Nations League service, with Anfield skipper Virgil van Dijk who looks in the background.
The former Celtic Flyer, who left Parkhead for Leverkusen in a £ 11.5 million deal in 2021, is supposed to have had regular contact with Liverpool -Baas Arne Slot and although there is no shortage in a man with a man with 41 targeted involvement in the past two seasons in Evitable.
Regardless of where he ends up, Celtic will laugh all the way to the bank after a reduction in the profit of his Leverkusen -sale.
The 24-year-old is supposed to have built in a release costs of £ 34 million in his contract with the ruling Bundesliga champions, which means that every sale for that price will result in a profit of £ 22.5 million of which Celtic would be assured that £ 6.75 million would be.
So, taking into account his original sale, that would have £ 18.25 million on Frimpong – not bad for a player who was signed for £ 350,000 from Manchester City in 2019!
Fringe Man Luis Palma is about to win two titles this term
Soon Celtic Winger Luis Palma will claim that he has won two titles this season, albeit by making only a modest contribution to each of them.
When summer comes by, the Honduras International who came on loan in January at Olympiakos will have won championships with both his parent club and its temporary.
The Greek side won the Super League of their country with a victory against AEK Athens on Sunday evening, and Celtic needs only one point to repeat the titles success that Palma was part of a year ago.
Whether the 25-year-old medals should show for his efforts this season is another matter. He played for Celtic in just eight competition matches, not enough to be eligible for him under SPFL rules.
And despite a goal and an assist in the semi -final of the Greek cup, he has appeared in just six league games for Olympiakos, which makes doubts about whether they will take their option to buy.
On paper it has been a successful season for Palma, whose Celtic contract has to walk for another three years. On grass, the story is a bit different for the player whose future is nothing, if not uncertain.
There are only two stiliyan petrovs … and one stands for reform!
More than a few Celtic fans were forgiven a double take when it was recently announced that Stiliyan Petrov should be a candidate for Reform UK in the upcoming local elections.
The popular Bulgarian is a celebrated former Celtic midfielder, as well as a respected football point, but he is nobody's idea of an emerging politician with the party led by Nigel Farage.
Of course, because it quickly became clear, it is not that Stiliyan Petrov who has been confirmed as a candidate for Lapworth and West Kenilworth Ward van Warwickshire County, but his 22-year-old son with the same name.
In a video in which he foreseen that he was able to re -wired a fuse box as an electrician, Stiliyan Junior promised to stand up for workers of the working class and the youth of this country with “a voice that will actually represent them”.
The son of the most covered player of Bulgaria will probably also take a tough position on immigration and support the kind of populist, right -wing policy that Anathema is up to a large part of the support of Celtic.
Some fans quickly expressed their anger on social media, and it is probably no coincidence that Stiliyan Senior has now offered a diplomatic answer to the news – not distant himself from his son, but from the politics he stands for.
“First of all I have never been to politics and I will never be,” said Petrov. 'My son is passionate about the world and I strongly encouraged that.
'Although we have not agreed in certain cases, he is his own husband. He is an independent, young man who works hard, he is happy to help the community and he goes his own way into life.
'Now with young children they have their own choices. But I am miles away from politics. I have no interest. '
Elena Sadiku knows that it is profit or bust for the rest of the campaign
Elena Sadiku refuses to admit the defeat in the SWPL title race, instead that its Celtic team can still finish the top of the table by winning all seven of their remaining competitions.
The defending champion earned a 1-1 draw with Rangers in Broadwood on Sunday, when their replacement, Amy Gallacher, Kirsty Ho Wat's Early Opener canceled.
Although they would rather have ended a Winless Run that now extends to five games, Celtic came one point closer to the top, thanks to Hibs's defeat by Hearts.
Fourth placed Celtic are now eight drift, with the same points in total as fifth placed hearts, but Sadiku saw enough of her players against Rangers to believe that the weekend was a turning point.
In their next two games, against Hibs and Motherwell this week, the goal is to go where they left in the derby. And if they do that, Sadiku believes that they will collect the much needed momentum when the season is approaching its climax.
“We have to win every game between now and the end of the season,” said the Swede. “We have to believe that that is possible.
'It is now a huge game for us on Wednesday evening against Hibs, but they are all huge games now. I was disappointed not to get the three points, but I was proud of the second half because the players came out and showed how much they wanted to win the game.
“This is the week in which we turn things around. At the moment the mood is good at the camp. We are in it until the end. We have everything in our hands. '
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