Hayes, Koki Mizuno and the right-mid gap

You and I have been doing this long enough to remember this place in meltdown at the prospect of Celtic signing a player from another SPL club. Domestically sourced talent was regarded as unimaginative, cheap, even. Contrast this with the utter joy when we signed Koki Mizuno, who was full-on exotic, but built for finer things then competitive football.

At 29, Aberdeen’s Irish international midfielder, Jonny Hayes is certainly unimaginative, and may be comparatively cheap, but he’s also a low-risk option for Celtic, who will know what they could get (and what they will not get) from the player.

With Patrick Roberts due to report to Manchester City on his return from holiday, Celtic are short of options for right-mid, with the first Champions League qualifier only five weeks away. The manager will view this gap in his squad as an unnecessary risk to next season’s objectives.