Scott McDonald reckons losing Ryan Christie for buttons is a £9 million disaster for Celtic.
The Parkhead ace is a free agent at the end of the year and available talk to suitors in the summer.
McDonald believes a multi-million gamble has not paid off for the club with Christie yet to agree to stay while his transfer value plummets.
The Aussie reckons the Scotland star will quit after the Euros and be part of an exodus of players with nothing more to prove at Parkhead.
McDonald said: “It’s a disaster for Celtic. The money they were portraying they could get for him of near enough £10 million to be getting, let’s be real, more like £1 million if they are lucky with six months to go, then that’s a huge disappointment.
“And it’s not been worth the gamble for them because they’ve not won anything.
“His agent is a genius. If you’re allowed to have a contract run out during the season that’s fantastic for a player or agent.
“There’s a deal to be done whether that’s with the club or another club. It’s very odd. It doesn’t happen very often.
“I don’t know about Ryan. His form has not been as good this season, but you could say that about the whole Celtic side.
“It’s a big Euros for him. He’s performed very well for Scotland and there are a few players within that Scotland side, not just from Celtic, looking for big moves off the back of playing in the Euros.
“Christie will be one of them looking to put himself in the shop window.
“It will be a fresh start for a lot of players. For what they have won at the football club, the motivation for a lot of these players was to win 10-in-a-row and become icons and go down in history, which they already have with the Quadruple Treble.
“But now they are starting at square one again. Where’s the motivation for the players? They’ve been there and done it all at Celtic. They’ve played in big European nights, they’ve won every trophy there is to be had.
“Now is the time for a lot of these players to be looking and saying they want to play in a better league against the best players in the world. I think Christie is probably thinking that along with a few others in that changing room.”
McDonald, meanwhile, isn’t sold on a Celtic move for Sunderland striker Charlie Wyke.
The striker’s name has been linked to Parkhead, but the ex-hitman doesn’t think he fits the bill.
McDonald told the Celtic Huddle Podcast : “Charlie started at Middlesbrough. He was a young boy coming through when I first signed under Gordon Strachan).
“He was at Carlisle and Bradford and got his move to Sunderland. So he’s got a pedigree in the lower leagues.
“Whether or not that crosses over to Celtic, I’m not quite sure.
“He’s very robust, a Lyndon Dykes type. He would give you a bit of that. He scores a lot of headers. Aiden McGeady’s given him a lot of assists this season and he’s thrived on that.
“He’s one of the best players in League One. I know he’s a free, but, at 28, there’s no sell-on value. So is he the real deal?
“I’m not sure if that’s a Celtic signing. If Eddie Howe gets the job and they are talking about wanting to produce young players for more money, is that the type of signing Celtic want and will it excite the fans?”
McDonald is frustrated at the lack of movement on that managerial front with recruits needed and added: “If Howe is that No.1 target, then why has he not agreed to take the job and why is there no football director at Celtic Park?
“Now the recruitment begins. Now the new season begins. It began eight or nine weeks ago and we are still no closer to knowing, from the outside anyway, on who it is going to be.”
