THIS is quite a list from Celtic Soccer Show. A quick calculation and we see that selling these ten players has brought in an astonishing £115.2million; money that has fuelled Celtic’s charge towards Ten in a Row and has resulted in the club being the stand-alone dominant force in Scottish football. But did the buying clubs get value for money or did they over pay for a player who ultimately disappointed at his new club? Let’s have a look…
Celtic’s record transfers received:
🏴 K. Tierney – £25m
🇫🇷 M. Dembele – £19.7m
🇳🇱 V. van Dijk – £13m
🇰🇪 V. Wanyama – £12.5m
🏴 F. Forster – £10m
🇮🇪 A.McGeady – £9.5m
🏴 S. Armstrong – £7m
🇧🇬 S. Petrov – £6.5m
🇦🇺 M. Viduka – £6m
🇰🇷 K. Sung-Yueng – £6mDecent team that. 👀 pic.twitter.com/WhlX4BuHEs
— Celtic Soccer Show (@CelticSoccrShow) October 17, 2019
1. KIERAN TIERNEY
Sold this summer to Arsenal for £25million despite being injured. He has played a few games now, most recently in the Europa League where he impressed. Arsenal fans are full of hope that they have unearthed a real bargain for their money as KT looks set to make his Premier League debut this weekend. If they get him fit and keep him fit then there is little doubt that the Gunners really have got a bargain. But the jury is out until he proves his fitness by playing regularly. Celtic, the player and his agent all knew that the selling figure was £25million and despite the injury record in the last year or so, that was achieved. VALUE FOR MONEY 8/10
2. MOUSSA DEMBELE
Caught in the crossfire from last summer’s fall-out between Peter Lawwell and Brendan Rodgers, Dembele called out The Irishman on social media in pretty spectacular fashion just as the summer 2018 transfer window was closing. Lyon seemed to be pulling the strings in the background, something we should be aware of as Manchester United eye up a January move for the former Celtic man who has impressed since moving back to France. Lyon paid Celtic £19.7million for the striker and could double their money and some in January – and Celtic get a slice via the sell-on clause. But it’s not all good news as Lyon are likely to try to repeat the trick by targeting Odsonne Edouard who is currently the talk of French football after scoring ten goals for the French under21s in the last two international breaks. VALUE FOR MONEY 10/10.
3. VIRGIL VAN DIJK
From Celtic to Southampton and on to Liverpool where he established himself as the best defender in World football and drove the Anfield club onto Champions League glory in Madrid back in May. Barcelona’s superstar Lionel Messi has been speaking about the former Celtic Star to Marca. “He is a defender that knows how to judge the timing and wait for the right moment to get in or hold on,” Messi told Marca.“He is very fast and big, but he has a lot of agility for his height. He is fast because of its great stride and is impressive, both in defense and attack because he scores many goals.”
“Virgil van Dijk is one of the best in the world – he is the complete defender, always calm, a great player,” Carles Puyol told the Independent as reported on Empire of the Kop. “The spotlight usually goes to the strikers, so it is nice to see a special defender get deserved recognition.”
Southampton paid Celtic just £13million for the big Dutchman and looking back on that it was a case of daylight robbery. Yet there were people high up at Celtic who believed that they had got a great deal at the time and undoubtedly didn’t fully believe what we were seeing when this Rolls Royce of a footballer somehow ended up signing and playing for Celtic. The large sell-on slice of the subsequent £75million transfer to Liverpool may have eased Parkhead the blushes. Had Liverpool not looked down their noses at the Scottish game they could have saved themselves £60million by dealing directly with Celtic. VALUE FOR MONEY 10/10.
