Nicolas Kühn attracting attention, we mustn’t think of selling unless it’s for a record fee of at least £35m…
Eric Dier of Bayern Munich and Nicolas Kuhn of Celtic compete for the ball Celtic v Bayern Munich, UEFA Champions League, Knockout Round Play-offs, First Leg, Celtic Park, 12 February 2025. Photo Stuart Wallace Shutterstock
Money talks in football
It was reported over the weekend that Nicolas Kühn is attracting attention down south, notably from the likes of Newcastle United, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Brentford. Teams that are in no way bigger than Celtic, but as we know clubs in England are laden with cash due to their lucrative broadcasting deals, and at the end of the day money talks.
Matt O’Riley of Brighton & Hove Albion in action. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Nicolas Kühn is a player we desperately want to keep
It’s just the way football is in the modern era as we’ve found out recently with Matt O’Riley leaving us for Brighton in a record £28 million deal. Players like Matt and now Nicolas are going to attract the attention of other clubs due to their ability, especially when they are performing well in the UEFA Champions League.
Nicolas is a player we desperately want to keep, especially if we want to build on our success and stay competitive in Europe. We need our best players to stick around if we have any ambition of making strides at the top level and also retaining our elite manager, who signed is now past the half-way point in his three year contract.
Harry Kane of Bayern Munich battles Nicolas Kuhn of Celtic. – Celtic v Bayern Munchen, UEFA Champions League, Knockout Play-off first leg, Celtic Park – 12th February 2025. Celtic Park. Photo Daniel Weir, Crystal Pix
Board won’t turn down mouthwatering offers
Realistically however our Board won’t turn down mouthwatering offers for our players due to the financial restraints we operate under, our trading model after all is to bring in talent at a relevant low fee and sell on for a profit. As a support we have come to accept this strategy works well for Celtic when implemented properly.
But we must hold out and not contemplate selling until we receive what we believe to be a worthy offer. Too often in the past we’ve sold players for less than their worth due to what we think is an offer to big to turn down.
For example Matt O’Riley going for a record fee of £28 million looks good on the accounts, but in England that is a seen as a relatively ‘low’ fee when you consider the average players who ply their trade in that league and command much bigger price tags.
Nicolas Kuhn with the Premier Sports Cup after Celtic’s victory over theRangers on 15 December 2024 at Hampden Park. Photo Kenny Ramsay
Price for Nicolas should be set at offers over £35m
If these clubs are serious about signing Nicolas then they must be prepared to offer us a record fee for his services. We hold all the cards after all as his contract runs until 2029. We mustn’t think about selling, but if we do it must be for an offer we simply can’t refuse.
If Celtic’s price was set at offers over £35m then that is not outwith the reach of any of the three clubs quoted above and they’d still be getting great value for money.
Just an Ordinary Bhoy
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Wouldn’t be nowhere near as straightforward as that, especially when we have no idea what is actually involved within there contracts?
Course a claim can be made that we hold the power because of having the contract, but not really true, if you have a valuable unhappy player on your hands in return?
The current problem as I see things, are that we don’t have to many problems in generating money in the bank, upon player’s values.
It’s the potential turnaround with the amount of potential players during a summer period, that could start becoming a far bigger issue imo?
Currently 5 to 7 player’s, that might not be in the plans going forward, yet still hold value in the transfer market.
That’s without the likes of kuhn, Hatate etc etc who hold greater value in the transfer market, but moreso upon playing value for ourselves also.
So stability within the playing squad could start becoming an issue, especially if we have to continue to be turning around so many players during each summer transfer period?
Can except losing 1 or even 2 big players each summer for big money.
Not to sure I would feel comfortable about losing potentially more than that, all the same?
Still a cost involved for success gained by ourselves, even though it’s not within the banking process of the club, it’s potentially within the playing squad moreso.