The question facing Celtic superstar Henrik Larsson, is whether to stay or to go. 
Apparantly Newcastle Utd are the latest club to be interested, they may bid £8 million which would seriously test Celtic Plc's resolve to keep the player offering nearly a 1250% profit. However the good news is that it appears more likely that he will in fact be staying at Parkhead. The Swede who would surely be sold during the close season should he fail to sign a new contract has indicated that an agreement is very close to being reached. £25,000 a week is apparantly what he is asking for, if Celtic do want to take the next step forward they MUST meet his demands.
This evening Celtic missed a huge opportunity to cut to seven points the gap between themselves and Rangers. More disapointing than Celtic's inability to win the three points was Kilmarnock's lack of interest to even compete for full points against a team placed only one place above them, a team occupying the European slot one would have expected them to covet also. Kilmarnock displayed a disgraceful lack of ambition and will always be consigned to the ranks of second rate until they take a more postive approach to football against the 'Old Firm'.
It has been a very busy week at Celtic Park, with players moving in and arranging to move out of the club. Firstly both Simon Donnelly and Phil O'Donnell have agreed to join Sheffield Wednesday on a free transfer at the end of this season. Celtic should view this as around a four to five million pound loss, both players being worth around two to three million had they been transferred whilst under contract to Celtic.
However Celtic should not be too concerned by the players departures, the loss of transfer fee is highly regretable and should not be repeated but Donnelly is a lightweight who rarely reached "Celtic Class" and O'Donnell although a player I admire greatly is also one who is plagued by injury and thus a liability. Celtic have to make a clear statement of intent by replacing Donnelly and O'Donnell with world class players.
Darren Jackson appears likely to make a move to Hearts, a club Tosh McKinlay has alaso been linked with. The departure of McKinlay, Jackson, Donnelly and O'Donnell will remove a lot of burden from the wage bill. Celtic fans should expect considerable investment from the board to strengthen the squad.
Scott Marshall has arrived on loan from Southampton, Jo Venglos has indicated that the move may be made permanent. The former Arsenal defender is however somewhat injury prone and thus a settling with a loan deal to provide short term cover for Celtic's ailing defence is surely the most appropriate way forward.
Mark Viduka managed to put his foot in it again last week. The Australian striker who has been engratiating himself finally with the Celtic faithful with five goals in three games said that he was interested in a move to Spain. He did mention that he would not want to leave until his contract was complete however this is not the kind of talk expected of a man who has played less than four times for Celtic.
Finally the Stubbs move to England situation may be resolved this week. With Celtic still nine points behind Rangers, Scott Marshall brought in to provide further central defensive cover, Celtic may wish to cash in on the player before the English transfer deadline on Thursday. Liverpool and Leeds are apparantly interested, Celtic would release the player immediately should a bid of £6 million be tabled, however they might agree a £5 million fee and keep the player until the end of this season.
