KRIS COMMONS has seen team-loads of players come and go during the eight transfer windows he has been at Celtic.

As a veteran of five moves himself, the 31-year-old accepts the transient nature of the modern-day footballer is as much part and parcel of the game as goals and corner flags.

Which is why agreeing a new contract to remain with Celtic for another couple of seasons after this summer marked a milestone in his career.

For the first time, he has stayed with a club beyond four years - his previous best set while he was at Nottingham Forest between 2004-08.

It has made him one of the long-stayers at Parkhead, and secure as he prepares himself to be a spectator not a player when the summer madness over who is going hits top gear again in a couple of months.

Ronny Deila is convinced the comfort of knowing his own future is settled has brought out the best in Commons' since the deal was signed in February.

But for the attacking midfielder, the imminent re-opening of the transfer window still brings with it an unsettling effect as he waits to see which, if any, of his team-mates follows the golden path over the border where a new TV contract means a league already awash with money is now in danger of drowning in the filthy lucre.

Virgil van Dijk remains the favourite, while Nir Bitton and Stefan Johansen are also attracting serious interest.

Commons has seen how disruptive losing star players can be, especially as it forces the manager into plugging large gaps as he sets about rebuilding at precisely the time he needs to have a settled side to take into the qualifiers and play-offs for European competition.

But he has also noted how big boots and gloves have been filled, as Johansen has done since Joe Ledley left and Craig Gordon has done since Fraser Forster brought in £10million.

Commons would prefer to retain the best, but is comforted by the way the scouting system has ensured any losses are used as an opportunity to bring in fresh talent to fill the void.

"We have been extremely good at that over the past few years, because we have lost some extremely good players," said the man from Mansfield.

"Guys like Victor Wanyama, Gary Hooper, Fraser Forster, Joe Ledley, Georgios Samaras.

"The list goes on and on and on, the players who made us so good and helped us reach the heights of European football that Celtic have not had for many years.

"We've lost them, but replaced them with Virgil van Dijk, Nir Bitton, Craig Gordon, so it's an ongoing process.

"The next lot goes out, and we have got to be able produce more from the scouting system to bring in similar sort of players so that we can maintain this level."

Commons understands it is now the Celtic way, to identify and recruit potential, hone it, then move it on for a big profit. It is simply the game the club have to play to feed the machine as they are forced to operate in such a restrictive market place as the SPFL Premiership.

How much easier life would be if the Hoops could allow the cream to rise to the top, then retain it rather than see it be skimmed off.

"That is the ideal situation," Commons admits, accepting his works' address is Glasgow's East End, not Utopia.

"But Neil Lennon had it for four years, losing good players and having to re-invest in other areas of the team.

"I think we'll always be like that because there is not enough money in Scottish football to turn down big offers.

"So, when you get big bids, between £6-9million, you have to take it to balance the books then bring someone else in. And that's what we do."

Given his age, even another vintage season like last year, when he banged in 31 goals, would not see Commons attract huge offers. But, as his contract was due to run out this summer, his approaching- Bosman status did not leave him short of interest from clubs in England, including Lennon's Bolton.

Eventually, they were all left disappointed as the drawn-out negotiations over a new contract reached an amicable conclusion.

Commons believes Deila played a major part in delivering what he felt he was due, and agrees with his manager's assessment that, casting off the pressure associated with securing his future was the catalyst for returning to the kind of form which makes him a first-pick.

"Definitely," he insisted. "It was a massive weight off my shoulders. Going from the season I did have, not being able to reach agreement on a new deal kind of put my future in doubt.

"I just thought it was very strange the position I was in after coming off a good season. I could half understand if I was getting to the end of my career or I was playing badly.

"But, in my eyes, I was at the top of my game and couldn't play any better. I thought it would have been run-of-the-mill: New contract, get it done, signed and sealed. But I think Ronny had a big part to play in finally getting it over the line, once I showed I was able to do things perhaps he didn't think I could do at the start of the season."

The pounds landed when the penny dropped. Commons accepted that, even after his Player-of-the-Year season, he had things to work on to fit into Deila's blue print for a successful side.

"It was quick reactions he wanted off the ball," explained the man who hopes be showing just that against Kilmarnock tonight. If you watch any Premier League games, there are not many strikers who give the ball away then run back.

"So having played two-and-a-half years as a No.10, it wasn't my natural instinct to misplace a pass, then chase after the ball.

"But that's what the manager wanted. He wanted us to get the ball back as soon as possible then play again.That's a completely different kind of game to what I had been playing."

But it's what he now does with aplomb, and what he plans to do for another couple of years, at least, as his prolonged stay at Celtic runs and runs.