Celtic star nearly left for more than Kyogo & Frimpong, then he went for £0
da fazobetai： Celtic had a January transfer window that not many supporters would have been expecting when it opened for business at the turn of the year.
da dobrowin： Portuguese forward Jota returned to Parkhead on a permanent deal from Rennes for £8m for a second stint at the club, 18 months on from his £25m move to Al Ittihad in the summer of 2023.
That may have only been the second biggest surprise of the transfer window, though, as it came around the same time that Japanese centre-forward Kyogo Furuhashi completed a move away from the club.
Ligue 1 side Rennes came in to sign the Japan international for a reported fee of £10m, ending his three-and-a-half-year stay with the Scottish Premiership giants.
Kyogo scored 85 goals in 165 appearances in all competitions, with 34 of those coming in the 2022/23 campaign, and opted to try a new adventure in Scotland.
Celtic raked in a fee of £10m for the 30-year-old forward, who is now in the latter stages of his career, and that made him one of the biggest sales in the club’s history, particularly over the past decade.
Where Kyogo ranks in Celtic's biggest sales of the last decade
The experienced forward, who proved that he could score goals on a regular basis for the Scottish giants during his time in Glasgow, ranks within the top ten biggest sales for the Hoops since the summer of 2015.
His £10m move to Rennes in January made him the eighth most expensive departure from Parkhead in that period, sandwiched between European stars Jeremie Frimpong and Virgil van Dijk.
Celtic’s biggest sales since 2015
Rank
Player
Fee
1
Matt O’Riley
£25m
2
Jota
£24m
3
Kieran Tierney
£23m
4
Moussa Dembele
£18m
5
Odsonne Edouard
£14m
6
Kristoffer Ajer
£13m
7
Virgil van Dijk
£13m
8
Kyogo Furuhashi
£10m
9
Jeremie Frimpong
£9m
10
Josip Juranovic
£7m
Fees via Transfermarkt
As you can see in the table above, Kyogo is in fairly esteemed company alongside the likes of van Dijk, Tierney, Jota, and Matt O’Riley, as well as being above Frimpong, who is now valued at a whopping £42m by Transfermarkt.
The Netherlands international has racked up 29 goals and 40 assists in 182 appearances in all competitions for Bayer Leverkusen since his £9m move to Germany, which has seen his value soar by £33m.
Celtic may regret not getting more money for the Dutch full-back, due to his soaring market value, but they also do not have the platform that Leverkusen had to help him boost his profile by winning the Bundesliga and playing against the likes of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund multiple times each season.
Rather than regretting their decisions to sell players like Frimpong and Kyogo, who earned the club around £19m between them, the Hoops may regret not cashing in on some stars.
Where Are They Now
Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast’s Where Are They Now series.
One player the Scottish giants may look back on with regret is central midfielder Olivier Ntcham, whom they failed to extract maximum value from.
The fee Celtic rejected for Olivier Ntcham
The Hoops signed the Cameroon international from Manchester City for a reported fee of £4.5m in the summer of 2017 to bolster their options in the middle of the park.
Ntcham enjoyed a terrific first season at Parkhead after that switch from the Premier League giants, as he racked up nine goals and six assists in 48 appearances in all competitions.
Olivier Ntcham’s Celtic career (all comps)
Season
Appearances
Goals
Assists
20/21
23
1
2
19/20
39
8
4
18/19
37
6
1
17/18
48
9
6
Stats via Transfermarkt
As you can see in the table above, the French-born star, who was described as a “powerful” player by Brendan Rodgers, offered a decent goal threat from midfield throughout his time in Glasgow.
After his debut season in Scottish football, which resulted in 15 direct goal contributions, Portuguese giants Porto showed an interest in signing him in the summer of 2018.
GOAL reported that the Hoops turned down an offer of £13m, plus bonuses, from the Liga Portugal outfit that year, as they were determined to keep hold of their star midfielder.
Unfortunately, Ntcham never managed to hit the same heights after that first season, with 12 goals and assists combined his next-highest tally in the next three campaigns, and his value went down and down.
In the summer of 2021, the Hoops star was released and joined English Championship side Swansea City on a free transfer, three years after a £13m bid had been made for his services.
Celtic may, therefore, regret not cashing in on him at the time as they could have sold him for even more than they sold the likes of Kyogoa and Frimpong for, only to lose him for nothing in the end.
Olivier Ntcham's current market value
Ntcham currently plays for Samsunspor in the Turkish top-flight, which is where he has been since his transfer from Swansea in the summer of 2023.
At the time of writing (28/03/2025), the 29-year-old central midfielder is valued at around £2.3m by Transfermarkt. This would make him one of the lowest-valued outfield players in the current Celtic squad.
Celtic’s lowest-valued outfield players
Rank
Player
Value
1
James McCarthy
£83k
2
Johnny Kenny
£188k
3
James Forrest
£417k
4
Anthony Ralston
£1.2m
5
Maik Nawrocki
£1.7m
6
Luke McCowan
£1.7m
7
Hyun-jun Yang
£2m
8
Liam Scales
£2.9m
9
Jeffrey Schlupp
£4.1m
10
Adam Idah
£4.6m
Valuations via Transfermarkt
As you can see in the table above, Ntcham would rank as the eighth-lowest valued outfield player at Parkhead in the present day, between Hyun-jun Yang and Liam Scales.
The former Manchester City youth prospect, who has scored 11 goals in 51 matches for Samsunspor to date, has failed to get back to the
levels he displayed in 2018, when he was valued at £13m.
At the age of 29, there is still time for him to enjoy a strong end to his career, but there is little sign – given his current market valuation – that he is likely to get anywhere near the level he was at during the start of his time with the Scottish giants.
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