In August, Celtic signed Boca Juniors’ Marcelo Saracchi on loan when Brendan Rodgers was in charge at Celtic Park.
The Uruguay international has played 579 minutes from 11 matches in all competitions for Celtic. He played 283 minutes under Rodgers, and the rest came under Martin O’Neill.
Wilfried Nancy was in charge for a month before Celtic showed him the exit door on Monday. He never considered Saracchi and left him out of the squad.
Friday’s edition of La Nación has a report on the left-back. The Argentine club have six players currently occupying their foreign slots and the Celtic man is among them.
They state: ‘According to AFA regulations, for a player to cease occupying a foreign player slot, they must be transferred or loaned to a foreign club.’
The fullback joined Celtic on a season-long loan deal last summer. He still has six months left on his contract with the Scottish club. However, the report states the 27-year-old has been included in Boca Juniors’ foreign player slots from January 1st.
La Nación state: ‘The reason? The minimum term for signing new contracts cannot be less than one year, which would create an overlap starting July 1st.’
The overlap is because seasons in Argentina and Scotland run on different calendars. Therefore, is Celtic send Saracchi back in the summer, he’ll contractually have to be registered and that takes a spot.
This is causing a problem for the South American club.
The Uruguayan joined Boca Juniors in 2023, and his performances weren’t convincing. He had a falling out with their coaching staff which led to his loan transfer to Celtic.
According to the newspaper, Saracchi had offered to terminate his contract in ‘exchange for a year’s salary’. Boca Juniors didn’t accept it and sent him on loan to Celtic.
