Celtic are often praised for their transfer strategy at Parkhead, actually named the best-run club in Britain by the Fair Game Index last year.
Over the last decade or so, the Hoops have made a massive profit with the likes of Ange Postecoglou, Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon selling players such as Matt O’Riley, Jota, Moussa Dembélé, Kristoffer Ajer, Virgil van Dijk and many othersKyogo Furuhashi is perhaps the most notable recent example. A scorer of 12 goals in Celtic colours this term, he departed in January to the tune of £10m.
However, there is one striker in particular the Celts must rue missing out on and he’s now outscoring that man Kyogo.The striker’s red-hot form continued at the weekend, bagging a brace against Heart of Midlothian, taking his tally to 30 goals for the campaign, described by former Hibs and Hearts midfielder Michael Stewart as “top class”.However, Maeda aside, Celtic’s other forwards have not been hitting the heights of late, as the table below outlines.The form of Nicolas Kühn has been particularly disappointing, considering he scored 14 times during the first half of the campaign, on course to be Celtic’s player of the season, but has now only scored twice since 5 January. That said, he looks well-set to replace Kyogo’s output in time.Adam Idah meantime, has failed to nail down a regular starting spot, with Maeda often favoured as the centre-forward, despite being signed for a huge £9.5m fee from Norwich last summer.
So, would the Hoops’ centre-forward issue have been solved if they had been able to complete a deal to sign a “world-class” striker a few years ago? He’s now better than Kyogo.Back in the summer of 2020, Celtic almost signed Ivan Toney from Peterborough United, with then manager Neil Lennon later admitting, “we were close to getting him… I was really interested”.
Toney himself stated, “I went up there… I was actually at the training ground” Lennoxtown, which is how close the move came.
Instead, Toney joined Brentford for £5m, firing the Bees to promotion in his first season, finishing as the EFL Championship’s top-scorer, before netting 36 times in the Premier League for the club.
