The interim Hoops boss admits he underestimated the task of the club’s impending summer rebuild
Daizen Maeda and Martin O’Neill(Image: SNS Group)
Martin O’Neill admits Celtic have a huge clearout on the horizon this summer.
The Hoops are set to undergo a major overhaul with a host of players heading for the exits. Six loanees are due to return to their parent clubs, while top stars like Daizen Maeda and Arne Engels could bankroll the seismic rebuild.
But with a string of forgotten fringe players – including Maik Nawrocki, Luis Palma and Johnny Kenny – also due to report back to Lennoxtown for pre-season, O’Neill expects a mass exodus.
The interim boss said: “There will be a number of players who, for one reason or another, will have to leave the football club because we are really top-heavy, do you know? And that becomes an issue.”
O’Neill – who is expected to step down from his role – confessed he underestimated the scale of the surgery required.
Asked if trimming the bloated squad was just as vital as making new signings, he said: “To bring new people in, you’ll have to. Absolutely. You couldn’t cope with that. You couldn’t cope. And that might not be the easiest thing in the world.
“Of course we’ve got some players here that other teams in big leagues will probably want. And that’s something to consider.
“But if you’re talking about players coming back from loans and stuff like this here, who maybe have another two years to run, those things might be difficult.
“So it is, yeah. I suppose the last thing that those players want to do is having been out on loan, then going back out on loan again.
“Either they want something permanent or they want to feel as if they could do the job here.
“The answer is I haven’t seen those players. So I should really be looking at what they can do. But I honestly haven’t at the time at this minute.”
Meanwhile, O’Neill insists he’s in the dark over reborn talisman Maeda’s future after the Japan star rejected a new deal last summer.
Maeda is entering the final 12 months of his contract and is widely expected to leave the club after seeing a dream move to Bundesliga side Wolfsburg fall through last year.
The 28-year-old has rediscovered his spark in recent games after a mixed spell this season – netting a crucial brace in Saturday’s 3-1 win against Falkirk.
Maeda now has the chance to put himself firmly back in the shop window over the next few weeks.
O’Neill would love the fans’ favourite to extend his stay at Parkhead but says there have been no fresh discussions.
He said: “I think there were contract talks with him… was it last August time or was it the time before that? I do know that there were talks and there was a contract in front of him, which he didn’t sign at the time. I don’t know the position now.
“I think there Wolfsburg were coming in for him and it didn’t materialise. I think obviously he became a bit despondent because it was a chance for him to play in the Bundesliga and all that type of stuff.
“So that didn’t happen. Maybe his head was all over the place for a while, but he has certainly settled down. But in terms of what’s happening in the future, I don’t know.
“I don’t know how long he’s got left. He’s got one more year, has he? Well, I don’t know. That would be something the club and he would have to be talking about.
“If he didn’t want to stay any longer, then that would be a choice for the football club to try and sell him with a year left to run.
“I just assume that would be the normal thing. But he’s come back to a bit of form, which is great. And I’ll look short-term at this minute and see how he can cope with the next five games.”