Hoops fans have been left wondering what the plan is for summer arrivals Shim Mheuka and Landon Emenalo

Celtic fans have been doing so much head-scratching in recent weeks you’d think there was an outbreak of nits in Glasgow’s East End.

It might be Kasper Hogh’s goal drought, Haissem Hassan’s disappearance, Sebastian Tounetki’s reappearance along with countless others.

But there’s another thing bugging punters right now.

Such as, what is going on with the Hoops loan players?

Sunday’s 1-0 win against Kilmarnock was a pretty drab, run-of-the-mill grind job on the back of a European match.

Yet it was some of the things not seen that were as interesting as what was witnessed.

Hassan getting bombed out of the squad altogether for what Martin O’Neill put down to competition for places is the kind of incident that a pin can be put in because it will really need to be tackled later.

The situation around the borrowed Chelsea players is also becoming another Parkhead mystery.

Shim Mhueka and Landon Emenalo were both left out of the match day squad and continue to be seldom seen kids.

The pair of them are off on international duty with England under 20s and under 19s respectively.

They’ve probably got more chance of getting some action with the Three Lions than with Celtic right now.

Which is starting to look slightly strange.

Mheuka has managed a few cameos, with nine appearances this season – all from the bench.

But his stint on the pitch add up to just 80 minutes.

Emenalo has featured even less. He’s managed just 39 minutes across two sub displays.

In Mheuka’s case, you can kind of see the problem. O’Neill is trying to play Hogh into some kind of form and also keep Camilo Duran sweet, as the Colombian wants to play through the middle but has been shunted out wide while the big Dane has his belly tickled.

The 19-year-old Chelsea kid has looked a right handful on the rare occasions been unleashed though.

There’s an argument it’s not Celtic’s job to get the youngster experience but it does pose the question what was the point in bringing him in if he’s not going to get a sniff.

Chelsea haven’t sent this hot prospect north to be playing in the KDM Evolution B&Q Petrofac Cup, or whatever it’s called these days.

Emenalo’s situation is even more bizarre.

The talk all summer was about signing a left back to help lighten the load on Kieran Tierney, or at least give him the odd break.

But Celtic couldn’t get any business done and then ended up bringing in this youngster just before deadline day – even though he was injured.

That was bonkers enough but then the kid gets fit – and still Tierney is slogging his guts out every week.

Celtic have just finished a gruelling nine-game run in 28 days – and Tierney started every one of them.

He has been outstanding, in fairness, but in the last match of the limb-sapping spell, Emenalo wasn’t even on the bench to help him out if he had to go off.

Again, what is the point?

On a side issue, Jordan Lotomba might not be a promising youngster in town to learn his craft, but he is a guy who can play left back as well as his usual role on the right.

He started against Besiktas and had a mixed bag of an hour – but was nowhere to be seen on Sunday.

Cue more scalp scratching.

In terms of the Chelsea lads though, it does become part of a wider concern.

Celtic have become far too reliant on loans in recent times. A raft of them arrived in January and barely made an impact, while another whack checked in during the summer.

Some of them, like Julian Araujo were okay, others, such as Oliver Sorensen have yet to make an impression. Names such as Joel Mvuka and Junior Adamu have become infamous.

It’s these other kids of loans though – the promising English Premier League youngsters – that have become problematic.

It’s a market Celtic have used well enough in the past. The likes of Jason Denayer and Patrick Roberts have done well for the club and went on to have solid careers beyond.

In recent times though, Celts have picked up some of these talents – and then practically ignored them.

Last season Jahmai Simpson-Pusey arrived from Man City as the Premier League 2 player of the year but got just 64 minutes before his move was cut short and he headed to Cologne.

Benjamin Arthur had a better crack after he checked in from Brentford, managing four full games and a couple of sub appearances before disappearing over the run in.

It’s true, Celtic have their own agenda and they can’t worry about keeping other clubs sweet over there players.

But they also might find it a bit of a struggle getting English teams to allow their prospects to come up if they are going to be sitting in the stands of being sent to Dingwall with the B team.

A lot of these youngsters are not going to make it at big English sides but the model for them is to get them out, impressing on loan, and then selling them on.

Chelsea has made fortunes that way for years – even though they reckon Mheuka is one who could eventually crack it with their first team.

He’ll need to wait if he’s bench warming at Parkhead for a season and there’s also concerns bringing these guys in as squad fillers only block the progress of homegrown talents like Lucas Clearie, who is banging them in for the B team.

It must be a tad confusing for the players – but not as much as it is for the head scratchers in the stands.