It has been an interesting summer for Celtic.
There is still a fair chunk of it to go, as Brendan Rodgers and Celtic prepare for Flag Day and the opening Premiership game of the season.
Celtic host St Mirren on Sunday afternoon, but a lot of the talk has been around who the club have or haven’t purchased during the 2025 summer transfer window.
It even seems as though Rodgers’ future lies with just how ambitious the powers that be are going to be during this final month.
The Celtic Park faithful want the board to spend and go for it, but remember, they have already gone down that road.
- READ MORE: Celtic should forget signing £4.3m target, Auston Trusty outperforms him in almost every department
Celtic trio Arne Engels, Adam Idah and Auston Trusty’s relationship with the fans
You have got to feel for club-record transfer Arne Engels, £9 million striker Adam Idah and £6 million purchase Auston Trusty because, through no fault of their own, they were purchased for big money by Celtic last summer.
Andy Halliday spoke about their situation on Clyde 1 Superscoreboard, including how they aren’t loved as much by the fans because they have been the examples when the Celtic board have spent over the top, and it hasn’t worked.
Halliday used the likes of 2025 summer departure Nicolas Kuhn, Reo Hatate, Kyogo Furuhashi and Matt O’Riley as other examples of low-budget signings that have worked, and are popular with the fanbase.
“I think, if I remember correctly, last season, a lot of the frustration from the Celtic fans was that they felt they just had to spend at that little bit of a higher bracket to improve that wee bit in the Champions League,” said Halliday.
“You have got to say, in all fairness, they did. That being said, Celtic have that money in the bank because of domestic success and getting into the Champions League, but also because they have purchased a lot of players for low and sold them for high.
“They then spend over, they spend that sort of next bracket of budget on players, on the likes of Arne Engels, Adam Idah and Auston Trusty last season.
“I don’t think it’s three players that Celtic have absolutely loved last season. I think they have done well in their own rights, but it has been more the Hatate’s, the O’Riley’s, the Kyogo’s and the Nicolas Kuhn’s, but it’s all about Celtic trying to find the next one.”
Kyogo Furuhashi, Matt O’Riley, Reo Hatate and Nicolas Kuhn’s success at Celtic
Understandably, fans call for more oomph in the transfer market, so Celtic can make further progression in Europe.
But it can’t be denied that some of the best players have been the unknown gems that have arrived with a low transfer fee.
O’Riley joined under Ange Postecoglou for £1 million from MK Dons, whilst Kyogo and Hatate are the success stories from Japan.
Then you have someone like Kuhn, joining during the January transfer window of 2024 for around £3 million, and leaving for just under £17 million this summer.
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