Kelechi Iheanacho’s move to Bursaspor has brought Martin O’Neill’s previous comments about the striker’s Celtic future back into sharp focus.

His departure closes a situation which had dragged on since the end of last season, despite both O’Neill and Iheanacho making their positions clear.

Celtic initially signed the striker on a one-year contract with the option of a further season. That option was not activated, allowing Iheanacho to become a free agent before the club returned with a fresh proposal.

O’Neill later confirmed that Celtic wanted to keep him.

“There’s an offer there to him at this minute. So we’ll see how that develops,” the manager said.

Those comments followed an earlier admission which showed Iheanacho had been seeking clarity over his future before the season had even finished.

“Iheanacho keeps asking me! ‘What do you think, are they going to keep me on?’

“I have no idea, mate. Don’t ask me, I am not the manager anymore. This morning again, he stopped me in the lift. ‘Are you staying on?’ I have no idea, can you just concentrate on the game this afternoon!”

The exchange suggested the striker was looking for answers while his contract situation remained unresolved.

Iheanacho also spoke openly about his desire to stay after Celtic’s Scottish Cup final victory.

“I hope so,” he said when asked whether he would remain at the club.

“I hope that at the start of next season, I am still a Celtic player. But we will leave that for everyone at the club to sort out.”

That makes the eventual outcome difficult to dismiss as a simple case of a player wanting to move elsewhere.

O’Neill wanted the forward back. Iheanacho publicly said he hoped to remain at Celtic. The club had previously held an option to extend his contract and later made him a new offer.

He has now signed for a side playing in Turkey’s second division.

There may have been financial or contractual factors behind Celtic’s decision not to activate the extension, but no full explanation has been provided. Without the details of the negotiations, it would be wrong to claim exactly why an agreement could not be reached.

What can be said is that Celtic had considerable time to decide whether Iheanacho should remain part of the squad.

The forward had also shown his value during the closing weeks of the campaign. He made an impact from the bench, scored important goals and found the net in the Scottish Cup final.

His fitness record may have been part of the wider assessment, but O’Neill’s comments made it clear he still wanted the player available for the new season.

Celtic now move on without an experienced striker who knew the manager, understood the demands of the club and had already delivered in important matches.

Iheanacho’s move to Bursaspor will only increase the scrutiny on how Celtic handled a contract situation that appeared, at several points, to have support from both the player and the manager.