As covered already by Vital Rangers, the recent speculation linking us with Danilho Doekhi and Joseph Okumu – if accurate – means that there will have to be departures in the centre-half department this summer.
Football Insider has reported that the two players likely to depart permanently are George Edmundson and Filip Helander which would bring in £7million if they are correct.
First of all, I’d be wanting more than that for Helander on his own but if we can get more than our money back for Edmundson then we have done well, I just can’t see any reason why we would have signed Jack Simpson if we were going to keep him, given how similar their profiles are.
Niko Katic will probably head out on loan too because as we found with Jamie Murphy, playing the odd game here and there is no use when you are trying to recover from a year out of the game – for his benefit, and ours, he needs to get regular action.
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Our transfer model is all about selling players for a profit when the opportunity presents itself and identifying replacements who are cheaper, both Okumu and Doekhi are approaching the last year of their contracts so should be available for decent fees, not that it would make he potential departure of Big Fil any more bearable.
If the injury he sustained against St Johnstone is serious, we might have seen the last of him in a Light Blue shirt, if anyone still has doubts about his importance to the team, his record of no league defeats in two seasons is a stark reminder.