Brendan Rodgers/Ange Postecoglou Transfer Comparisons – Facts and Figures

Crucially, two of these players — Iheanacho and Schmeichel — came from Rodgers’ personal network, highlighting a reliance on his Rolodex rather than Celtic’s formal recruitment process. Another was the re-signing of a player we all knew well.

That leaves only four starters who were identified, scouted, signed, and trusted by the club’s recruitment team, and perhaps or perhaps not with Rodgers fully engaged, representing £25.9 million of expenditure for genuine first-team integration.

Beyond that core, Rodgers and the recruitment team has invested in a second tier of squad contributors and rotation players, a group designed to provide depth but who rarely influence games consistently.

This tier includes Paulo Bernardo (£3.5m), Auston Trusty (£6m), Michel-Ange Balikwisha (£5m), Marcelo Saracchi (Loan), Ross Doohan (Free), Luke McCowan (£1m), Viljami Sinisalo (£1m), and Yang (£2m).

Together, these eight players account for roughly £18.5 million in permanent spend. There’s a mix of versatile and useful players, capable of stepping in when injuries strike, but few push into a first-choice role.

Rodgers’ recruitment also includes development or project players. Shin Yamada (£1.5m), Hayato Inamura (£0.25m), Callum Osmand (Free), and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey (Loan).

These players are low-cost, low-risk attempts to grow talent within the squad, representing a further £1.75 million of investment.

High turnover compounds the problem.

Eleven Rodgers-era signings have already departed, either because they were rarely used — Tomoki Iwata (£1m), Odin Thiago Holm (£2.5m), Kwon (£1m) Marco Tilio (£2m) Gustaf Lagerbielke (£3m), Nat Phillips (Loan) — or they had a chance, didn’t work out and have moved out on loan, or have been sold — Luis Palma (£3.5m), Adam Idah (£9.5m) , Alex Valle (£1.3m loan fee), along with Jeffrey Schlupp (Loan). It’s worth noting that that Rodgers had nothing to with any of the these signings except the last three. Also as Valle wanted to leave early, Celtic’s loan fee was probably around 50% of the sum quoted.

Meanwhile Nicolas Kühn (£3m), was sold for big money but did contribute greatly in the time he was with the club.

Approximately £24.8 million was paid for those departing players – the Jota fee basically – not counting the value of loan arrangements. The high turnover, coupled with relatively few first-team-ready signings, paints a picture of a recruitment strategy struggling to convert acquisitions into sustained performance.

Continues on the next page with the signings of the Ange Postecoglou era…