One of the first things that should happen in January is that Chelsea should seriously consider recalling their two young loan players from Celtic.

And there is a problem for Celtic if they do, because we did not get Shim Mheuka and Landon Emenalo simply to pad out the squad, warm the bench or occupy places in the stand.

They were sent here to play football, get meaningful senior minutes and develop. Right now, neither of them is getting anything like enough football for that arrangement to make much sense.

Players like these are not loaned out by Chelsea so they can spend months watching somebody else’s first team. Chelsea has one of the biggest development systems in football. They send young players out because they want them exposed to senior football, competitive pressure and meaningful minutes.

If that is not happening, they have every reason to reconsider the arrangement.

And frankly, if I were sitting at Chelsea looking at how little either player has actually featured, I would be asking exactly the same question.

What are these players actually getting out of being at Celtic?

We talk all the time about Celtic’s transfer strategy being incoherent, and these guys are not even doing a job as backups right now.

They are simply wasting their time, and Celtic are wasting squad places.

Sometimes I genuinely think we sign players not because we have a defined role for them, but because signing somebody allows the club to say that the position has been addressed.

And these two are a case in point.

I cannot see what we are doing here.

Take Emenalo.

The search for a left-back went on throughout the summer. Celtic badly needed cover in that position, particularly with Kieran Tierney unavailable, and Emenalo eventually arrived on loan from Chelsea.

He arrived carrying an injury, which raised questions in itself, and his introduction was delayed while he completed his rehabilitation. Once he was back fit and training, you would have expected him to start getting meaningful minutes.

But he still barely plays.

So, what exactly was the point?

If Celtic spent the summer looking for a left-back, eventually landed one of the young prospects Chelsea was prepared to send out for senior football, and then barely uses him once he is fit, what does that tell us about the planning behind the deal?

And this is not just a problem with these two players.

It potentially damages Celtic in the future.

Because somewhere out there, there will eventually be a genuinely exceptional young player who is beyond our permanent-transfer budget but available on loan.

Maybe he belongs to Chelsea. Maybe Manchester City. Maybe Arsenal, Liverpool or one of the elite clubs on the continent.

And Celtic might have a chance of getting him.

But only if his parent club believes he will actually play.

Only if they believe he will get minutes.

Only if they believe the loan will help his development.

If Celtic develops a reputation as a club which takes elite young players on loan and then parks them on the bench or in the stand, why would those clubs send their best prospects here?

Why would they trust us?

Every time we do something like this, the margin for error becomes a little smaller. It is one less tool available to the recruitment department and one less route into a market which can sometimes give clubs like Celtic access to players they could never otherwise afford.

Eventually, if you damage that reputation badly enough, the only clubs willing to deal with you are those who have no better option for their players.

That would be another entirely self-inflicted wound.

Celtic should be an attractive destination for elite young players.

We can offer European football, huge domestic pressure, crowds of 60,000 and the experience of playing for a club where every match matters and trophies are expected.

That should make Celtic an outstanding development environment.

But only if the players actually get on the bloody pitch.

Otherwise, all of those advantages mean absolutely nothing.

There are people who are going to say, “Yeah, but you would go nuts if we were playing two Chelsea youngsters every week.”

And number one, yeah, I probably would.

I probably wouldn’t like it.

You would be absolutely right to say that.

There are others who are going to argue that these guys are obviously not good enough to come straight in and do a job ahead of the players already here, guys like Camilo Duran.

And again, I absolutely agree.

They probably aren’t that good.

I probably would be angry if they were playing every week.

But that is not the defence of these loan deals that some people might think it is.

Because I believe that any player who signs for Celtic as a first-team footballer should be capable of stepping into the team and playing regularly.

That is the standard.

So if these guys are not ready, then the whole thing was pointless. If they are not good enough, then what exactly was the purpose of bringing them here?

It would be different if the criticism that Celtic are simply developing another club’s young players had any teeth.

But clearly it does not.

We are not developing them.

We are letting them rot on the vine.

And that is worse.

If these guys were never going to play, they should never have been signed in the first place. As simple as that.

The only conclusion I can come to is that they were brought in to make it look as if Celtic were doing serious work in the transfer market.

That we were filling gaps.

That we were adding depth.

That we were strengthening.

But if the players do not play, if they are not trusted and if the manager clearly prefers the people already here, then none of that is real.

It is cosmetic recruitment.

And I am sick and tired of writing about Celtic’s transfer foibles.

Chelsea should take this matter out of our hands in January.

Cancel the loan deals. Bring the players back.

And the next time Celtic come asking for one of their academy prospects to pad out the squad, Chelsea should tell us to look somewhere else.

Because if we cannot offer development, minutes or a meaningful role, then we have no business asking for the player in the first place.

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