Almost half of Celtic players contracted until 2028 could be offloaded this summer, it’s a damning indictment

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The summer of 2023 was a massive one for Celtic, largely because of one man.

The return of Brendan Rodgers after Ange Postecoglou left for Tottenham Hotspur stunned many Celtic fans, and angered a section as well.

But those wounds have since healed because Rodgers got down to work and has won four major trophies across his second spell so far.

However, his opening few months as Celtic manager for the second time was not all plain sailing.

Results were not very consistent, the style of play was starkly different to ‘Ange-ball’, and the team were knocked out of the Viaplay Cup by Kilmarnock early on.

And many blame that shaky start to the 2023/24 season on Celtic’s summer recruitment, which when you look back now, was truly horrific.

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Celtic cannot repeat mistakes of summer 2023

Celtic made 10 signings that summer costing almost £19m in total. And you could actually argue that none of them have been a roaring success.

Paulo Bernardo was signed on loan before that was made permanent, and the Portuguese midfielder has been a steady recruit.

Yang Hyun-jun was raw and unprepared for life in Scottish football, but proved last season that he is developing and can contribute in the longer term at Celtic.

For others signed in 2023 – five in particular – their Celtic careers have not taken off as they would have liked.

The names mentioned below all signed five year contracts that year, and quite frankly, all of them could be offloaded come the end of the current transfer window.

• READ MORE: Celtic Contract Expiry Dates & Players Set For 2025 & 2026 Exits

It proves the summer transfer window of two years ago was a huge failure and a damning indictment of the recruitment conducted by the club.

Celtic got away with it in the main given they ended up with the Premiership and Scottish Cup in the trophy cabinet come the end of the campaign.

Rangers did provide a credible title fight until collapsing at the final hurdles, but did win the Viaplay Cup.

A summer of recruitment akin to 2023 cannot happen again this year, because Rangers are in a much stronger financial position after their US takeover.

Celtic can’t allow them to get a head start, or at least give them an inkling of hope that they can seriously challenge for all three honours across 2025/26.

Maik Nawrocki

• Transfer fee: £4.3m (from Legia Warsaw)
• Appearances: 18
• Cost per game: £238k

Gustaf Lagerbielke

• Transfer fee: £3m (from IF Elfsborg)
• Appearances: 10
• Cost per game: £300k

Kwon Hyeok-kyu

• Transfer fee: £1m (from Busan IPark)
• Appearances: 0
• Cost per game: N/A

Marco Tilio

• Transfer fee: £1.5m (from Melbourne City)
• Appearances: 2
• Cost per game: £750k

Luis Palma

• Transfer fee: £3.5m (from Aris)
• Appearances: 48
• Cost per game: £73k