Gordon Strachan has claimed that Kasper Schmeichel has a big decision to make over whether to retire or keep on playing.
The Dane is older than Joe Hart who retired a year ago but over the course of 49 matches was an outstanding member of the Celtic side.
True, his mistake/fumble/misjudgement of a cross in the Scottish Cup Final will be hard to shake off although but according to UEFA statistics Schmeichel was the best goalkeeper during the eight match group phase.
His performances were a key factor on Celtic reaching the Play Off stage for the Round of 16 where he again looked comfortable over two matches against Bayern Munich.
A year ago there was fear and panic among Celtic fans over how Hart could be replaced, after being linked with dozens of names a Leicester reunion with Brendan Rodgers was completed in time to join Celtic on their pre-season trip to the USA.
Like most of his Celtic team-mates there was a dip in form from the goalkeeper post Bayern but there were no alarm bells or social media campaigns screaming for change.
When Schmeichel was injured playing for Demark against Portugal on March 23 there were serious concerns over the impact on the Celtic team, Vil Sinisalo almost instantly calmed those worries including an assured appearance at Ibrox where he was the target of regular missile attacks.
Before Hampden there was nothing to be worried about as Schmeichel faced Hibs and St Mirren but discussing Celtic issues in general Strachan threw in an unexpected claim.
Like many pundits the former Scotland boss likes to share his opinions with online gaming firms.
Assessing Celtic’s transfer requirement over the summer transfer window the Daily Record reports Strachan saying:
The club have a plan, and it usually works. They’ll be looking at attackers overall and perhaps a goalkeeper, but they don’t have the money to go all out in the window. They have the money to spend big this summer but won’t.
A net spend of £30m is certainly viable but the club prefers money in the bank to assets on the football pitch.
For the current year a Corporation Tax payment of around £10-12m is likely, money that ought to be reinvested in the playing squad or on the many badly needed infrastructure projects.
I expect there’ll be some other big decisions on Brendan Rodgers’ mind for the rest of the squad. Kasper Schmeichel will have a decision on whether he wants to keep going or call it a day.
Wide men and strikers are always in the conversation for Celtic and midfielders always want a striker to give the ball to.
Fans were naturally worried about Celtic losing the cup final last week, but I wouldn’t be too worried.
They hit the post and the bar, and Kasper made an uncharacteristic mistake. If you account for those, you’d probably say it would’ve been a comfortable win for Celtic, so there’s no need to enter panic mode and start demanding loads of transfers.
With his son Gavin inside the Celtic inner sanctum the comments on Schmeichel are interesting, the idea has come from somewhere.
In March Celtic announced that their Danish ‘keeper has signed a new contract keeping him at the club until June 2026.
Sinisalo has shown over eight appearances that he is about as good a deputy as you could wish for, in any outfield position his claim to become a first pick would be very strong.
Goalkeeping is a different matter, they are creatures of habit, a law onto themselves. They get treated differently. As Celtic manager Strachan dealt with Artur Boruc who was certainly unconventional but delivered outstanding performances for three seasons.
Helping Denmark to the World Cup Finals and playing in the USA/Mexico/Canada next summer is a very obvious target but over the summer months there could be a big decision to make for the goalkeeper with 113 caps picked up over the last 12 years.
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