The revelation Ben Doak appears on the verge of swapping Celtic for Liverpool was met with some predictable cynicism.
That the details of the teenager's potential switch to Anfield included some, shall we say, eye-catching wage figures did little to quell inevitable claims he was simply chasing the money.
It's all a bit unfair on a 16-year-old kid offered the chance to join one of the best football teams on the planet, earning previously unthinkable money (touted as £12,000-a-week) that will change his and his family's life.
But there's always been a level of disdain aimed at players who choose to leave Glasgow and that's unlikely to ever change, regardless of circumstances.
In isolation, a young talent being tempted by bright lights elsewhere isn't something for fans to be overly concerned about.
But at Celtic these days, however, it's become an unwelcome pattern.
Doak could be the latest in a line of prospects who have decided their future ambitions were better served away from Parkhead.
If he does indeed head for Merseyside, he can be added to a list that already includes Leo Hjelde (Leeds United), Barry Hepburn (Bayern Munich), Liam Morrison (Bayern Munich), Vincent Angelini (Watford), Cameron Harper (New York Red Bulls), Liam Hughes (Liverpool) and Josh Adam (Manchester City).
Armstrong Oko-Flex joining from Arsenal in 2018 was considered a real coup for the club's academy, but less than three years later he's now making waves at West Ham after a single first-team appearance at Celtic, one that came only because half of Neil Lennon's squad had been wiped out by Covid-19.
Should Karamoko Dembele, for years the hottest prospect at Lennoxtown, not agree a new contract in the coming months then he too will leave Celtic behind.
It begs the question as to why so many of these highly-rated kids are choosing a different path in favour of pushing for the first team.
Yes, they will earn more money in England but to dismiss all these departures as pure greed - a common theory on social media - is nonsensical.
There's no one all-encompassing factor, and not all of them reflect badly on Celtic, either.
The Parkhead club are a gigantic fish in a small pond and it can sometimes be hard for supporters to swallow the notion that not every youngster's ambition starts and ends at Celtic Park.
Unfortunately, in football, there's a food chain and the likes of Bayern Munich and Liverpool are much higher in the pecking order. Sometimes, an elite club will flex its muscles and help themselves to one of your players, no matter what Celtic do to try to prevent it.
Changes induced by Brexit has also limited Premier League clubs' ability to cherry pick youngsters from Europe, a development which was always bound to have knock-on-effects for Scottish academies.
But there's been too many frustrating examples at Celtic for there not to be serious conversations taking place as to what might need to change.
Namely, are these players seeing a clear enough pathway to the first team?
In Doak's case, two senior appearances at 16 - one against Rangers - is a promising start but there are plenty others who, one way or another, clearly felt those opportunities were not going to materialise.
For every Kieran Tierney there's a Jack Aitchison and it appears there are a significant number of youngsters looking warily at the latter than hopefully at the former.
What will be even more frustrating for supporter will be that not so long ago it was Celtic mopping up the likes of Oko-Flex and Jeremie Frimpong from down south in a reverse scenario.
What the arrival of Ange Postecoglou might do to reverse this trend remains to be seen.
The manager can't be accused of not giving academy players an opportunity thus far, integrating the likes of Doak, Dembele, Adam Montgomery, Dane Murray and Owen Moffat at various stages, albeit sometimes through necessity.
The demand for domestic dominion in Glasgow dictates there aren't often matches where a Celtic, or Rangers, manager can relax and fill his side with youngsters in the way a Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola may do in the English League Cup.
It's a difficult balance to strike with the stakes so high,
