Celtic’s £20m running total profit from summer window

There’s movement, yes. But there’s still a sense that Brendan Rodgers is watching events unfold with one eyebrow raised.

Let’s start with the good. Kieran Tierney’s return to Paradise, even on a free transfer, is more than just a welcome homecoming – it’s a major upgrade in a position that has lacked top level consistency and quality since, ironically, Tierney left in the first place. His presence, leadership and familiarity with the standards expected at Celtic Park will be a shot in the arm for this squad, and although there was no transfer fee attached to the signing you can be certain the signing on fee was substantial, particularly to ensure Tierney could fit within Celtic’s wage structure.

Then there’s Benjamin Nygren. The £2m acquisition from Nordsjaelland isn’t headline-grabbing in the same way Tierney is, but the Swedish international is highly thought of, evidently technically gifted, and adds depth and competition in the final third. Pre-season performances have been greatly encouraging, and it may well be Celtic have picked up a £10-12m footballer for a fifth of the market value.

Beyond those two however, much of Celtic’s business has been more functional than transformative.

Ross Doohan returns as a back-up keeper to replace Scott Bain, while Callum Osmand arguably replaces academy graduate Daniel Cummings, who swapped Glasgow for East London. And left sided defender Hayato Inamura joins Osmand in the ones for the future category, rather than immediate first-team reinforcements.

Although Shin Yamada’s arrival from Kawasaki Frontale seems imminent (and for a reasonable £1.5m), that deal still falls into the ‘potential’ category rather than ‘proven, going by the manager’s worrying ‘club signing’ comments after the win over Sporting on Wednesday night. Although Brendan Rodgers may well be pleasantly surprised by Yamada, as from a profile perspective he looks a good fit for a Brendan Rodgers team.

Outgoings have been quietly significant. Aside from the loan exit of Maik Nawrocki, Greg Taylor’s transfer to PAOK and Jeffrey Schlupp’s end of loan, Nicolas Kuhn’s £16.5m departure to Como represents smart business financially, but it’s also a departure of a player who, while inconsistent, had settled into Rodgers’ system and could have had a big part to play. Gustaf Lagerbielke’s sale to Braga adds another £2.2m to the pot, and when you add in the £5m windfall from Jeremie Frimpong’s move to Liverpool, the club’s net profit from this window is around the £20m mark.

That’s a great number on paper. But as we all know, football isn’t played on spreadsheets.

So far, Celtic’s summer spend stands at just £2.25m (or £3.75m if you include the Yamada fee), but you likely should consider Kieran Tierney’s signing on cost as in lieu of a transfer fee, given it will be significant.
That might be prudent business – but is it ambitious enough for a club building from a position of domestic strength for this season’s title race and are aiming to be more than just group stage fodder in the Champions League?

And this is where the silence becomes telling.

Two pieces of business that should have been rubber-stamped weeks ago – new contracts for Brendan Rodgers and Daizen Maeda – remain conspicuously incomplete. Both are vital to Celtic’s short- and medium-term future.

Rodgers has made no secret of his desire to build something lasting in his second spell at Celtic, but he also won’t hang around if the board aren’t showing the same appetite for progress. There’s a growing sense that he’s waiting to see just how serious the club are in the remainder of this transfer window before putting pen to paper.

Maeda, for his part, is a tireless, selfless cog in this Celtic machine. A new deal should be a formality. But again – it’s not done. Could he also be waiting to see if the club are matching his ambition? The delay doesn’t feel like coincidence anymore.

With the season fast approaching, there’s time – but not an abundance of it. The squad still looks two or three quality signings short of where it needs to be, particularly in on the wings and up front, although the depth at left full-back and in central defence also remains somewhat lacking, so a couple of ‘lift the floor’ signings in those areas may also be required. The key figures are still unsigned. The support remains engaged, optimistic to a point, but increasingly aware that a strong early July needs to be matched by an even stronger August.

There are foundations here. Tierney is a statement signing. Nygren could prove to be a steal. But for a club of Celtic’s size and ambition – particularly with Champions League football looming once again – this window won’t be judged by what has already happened. It’ll be defined by what happens next.

It is 16 days until Celtic’s first league game; it is therefore already questionable if Celtic’s transfer business has prepared the squad for the start of the new season.

It is also 32 days until the first Champions League qualifier.

If Celtic want to ensure the majority of new signings are both available and, crucially, integrated prior to that encounter, the first team quality acquisitions need to arrive in very short order.

Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter

Thank you to everyone who has already pre-ordered the late David Potter’s last ever Celtic book, Celtic in the Eighties, which will be published on the fifth day of September by Celtic Star Books. The link to pre-order your copy is below…