It has been a great weekend for Celtic. First, they were able to get a 3-1 win over Motherwell, arguably the team playing the best football in Scotland right now. It was not a brilliant performance, but Martin O'Neill's side got the job done, which is what matters most at this point in the campaign.

That was followed by Hearts losing to Kilmarnock away at Rugby Park. It felt like the pressure of needing to win might have got to Derek McInnes' side, who are not used to being involved in tight title races. The gap now stands at two points with eight more league games to be played.

Rangers dropping points would have made the weekend even better. But Danny Rohl's side managed to eke out a narrow 1-0 win over St Mirren to stay in the title race.

Amid all the positivity, there was one piece of bad news though, that many fans might have missed out on. It looks like the club are set to see another one of their talented youngsters head for the exit door before ever making an impact at Celtic.

We had already reported yesterday that Dara Jikiemi was on his way to Liverpool. Now, there are further details regarding that move.

According to TEAMtalk, Jikiemi opted to reject Celtic’s offer of a three-year deal in favour of a switch to Liverpool.

Interestingly, Jikiemi was handed his debut for Celtic B yesterday as he started at centre-back against Tranent Juniors. Was it a last-ditch attempt to convince him to remain at the club? Or a sort of a goodbye gesture?

To be honest, it is easy to see why players like Jikiemi might be comfortable with the idea of leaving Celtic. To put it simply, a pathway between the academy and the senior team does not exist at this point in time.

So there is not much really stopping youngsters from trying their luck elsewhere. Even if they stayed on, it is pretty likely that consistent chances won't arrive at Celtic Park.

Now, one could argue that someone like Ben Doak did not stay long enough to get those chances. That same argument does not work when it comes to a player like Rocco Vata, though, who was on the books at Celtic for a while and even put up tremendous numbers at the youth level. But first-team chances were hard to come by.

Eventually, Vata would leave for Watford and prove that he was more than ready for senior-level football. So, why could those chances not have come at Celtic?

Jikiemi's decision to leave for Liverpool is an immediate blow. But the real problems at Celtic lie much deeper and have existed for a long time now.

Roundtablesports is absolutely Free to join! You can post your own thoughts, comment on articles, and start conversations with our Roundtable Writers. Scroll up to the top of the page and click 'Join'.

Download the FREE Roundtable APP, and get even easier access to your favourite teams and news!