Credit: Imago

Oliver Walton

Wed 18 March 2026 10:39, UK

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Martin O’Neill’s decision to put Tomas Cvancara on as a substitute against Motherwell over Kelechi Iheanacho looks to have sealed the Nigerian’s fate at Celtic.

Iheanacho made the move to Celtic as a free agent in September after leaving Sevilla to reunite with his former Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers.

He scored on his Hoops debut and looked promising in the early stages of the campaign before suffering a hamstring injury in late October, with Rodgers then resigning just days later.

The 29-year-old has since returned to action under Wilfried Nancy and O’Neill, but has found himself out of favour and has still only made five Premiership appearances so far this season.

Celtic’s January transfer business saw Czech striker Cvancara arrive on loan from Borussia Monchengladbach, and O’Neill’s faith in him has surely ended any chance of Iheanacho staying at the club beyond this summer.

Tomas Cvancara scored after being preferred to Iheanacho vs Motherwell

Cvancara is currently on loan at Parkhead, but Celtic do hold a £7million option to make the move permanent in the summer.

He registered an assist on debut against Hearts, then scored in his second Hoops game against Falkirk, but seemed to struggle to get to grips with the league in the weeks that followed.

That was until O’Neill called upon him to make an impact off the bench against Motherwell last weekend, with the scores locked at 1-1 in a game that Celtic simply had to win to remain close to the league-leading Jambos.

Cvancara came on for Sebastian Tounekti at half-time and made a real impact as he confidently stuck a penalty away for 2-1 and held off Motherwell’s defenders for Hyun-jun Yang to race through and make it three late on.

Iheanacho, meanwhile, remained an unused substitute on the bench as he was overlooked once more by O’Neill, and could only watch on as Cvancara helped Celtic win the game.

Celtic will hold contract talks with Iheanacho but the result seems obvious

O’Neill will not be the Celtic manager next season, but there is no doubt that he will give his thoughts to the club on what should happen with certain players ahead of the summer window.

Sources have told Football Insider that Celtic will hold talks with Iheanacho about his contract at the end of the campaign, as they hold the option to extend his expiring deal by another year.

Given Cvancara’s impact against Motherwell, and the pure fact that he was signed with an option to buy, it is difficult to foresee a world where the Nigerian striker stays on at Parkhead for next term.

When his struggles in front of goal and recurring injury issues are also taken into account, it looks inevitable that Iheanacho will move on from Celtic this summer.