CELTIC risk losing Ryan Christie for nothing as the Scotland star moves closer to the end of his contract.
The 26 year-old signed for the Parkhead club in 2015 and penned an extension on his deal in 2018.
That was thought to take him up until the summer of 2022.
But according to a report in the Mail on Sunday, the former Aberdeen man is only under contract until January next year.
That means he would be free to talk to clubs about a move away from Celtic this July.
And with Christie set to play a big part for Scotland at this summer’s Euros, that puts him in the transfer shop window at the ideal time.
New Celtic chief exec Dominic McKay will be eager to tie down the former Inverness Caley Thistle playmaker on a longer deal.
But with no sign of a new manager being appointed any time soon, Christie may feel it is an ideal time to move on after six years at Parkhead.
French side Nice were interested in signing him last year and other clubs will no doubt emerge to test the waters following this latest development.
Last October Christie insisted he was in rush to sign a new deal.
He said at that time: “I’ve spoken to the manager a few times up to this point.
“With everything going on, I didn’t think it was the right time to go into it.
“We hadn’t played football in so long and weren’t back playing.
“Obviously, now it’s a bit different but I’ve still got plenty of time on my current contract.
“Before this one I was down to five months to go at Celtic until we signed a new deal, so there’s plenty of time for that to resolve itself.
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“It’s crazy these days when people go into the last two years of their contract and there’s a big freak-out about when they’re going to sign the next one.
“It’s changed days. My dad always reminds me of when he’d go down to the last week of his contract and still hadn’t heard anything!
“I enjoy football too much to let that affect me.”
Celtic are already set to lose skipper Scott Brown to Aberdeen in the summer, while others like Odsonne Edouard and Kristoffer Ajer could also move on.
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Christie leaving on a free transfer in January would also be a blow to former club Inverness.
The Highland outfit made £500,000 after selling their star player just a few months after he had helped them win the Scottish Cup in 2015.
Part of that deal included a sell-on clause that could have netted the Championship side a sizeable sum if Christie was sold.
But if he moves on for nothing, then Caley Thistle would be left empty-handed.
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