At the close of the January transfer window this season, Celtic had sold a total of 14 players.
The likes of Kyogo Furuhashi and Alexandro Bernabei left during that window, while Matt O’Riley and Oh Hyeon-gyu departed in the summer.
Once again, Celtic’s player trading model of buy low and sell big worked a treat, O’Riley of course being the prime example of that.
The Hoops sold six players for big money last season, and we have set that bar at £2m and more. Which means there are a few we’ve missed out:
- Daniel Kelly – Millwall – £400k
- Rocco Vata – Watford – £237k
- Tomoki Iwata – Birmingham City – undisclosed
- Yuki Kobayashi – Portimonense – undisclosed
- Sead Haksabanovic – Malmo FF – undisclosed
- Benjamin Siegrist – Rapid Bucharest – undisclosed
- Aiden Haddow – Hearts – undisclosed
- Josh Dede – Middlesbrough – undisclosed
So how did Celtic’s biggest transfer exits get on last season? 67 Hail Hail have provided you with analysis and stats for each player below.
Matt O’Riley (Brighton & Hove Albion)
O’Riley became Celtic’s most expensive transfer sale of all time last summer when he made a whopping £26m switch to Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion.
It’s safe to say O’Riley has had a mixed debut season with the Seagulls. An ankle injury on his first appearance kept him out for a few months, but he showed his quality in moments since.
His first Brighton goal was the winner in a 2-1 victory over Manchester City, and he scored a penalty against Tottenham Hotspur on the Premier League’s final day.
Across all competitions, O’Riley played 23 games for Brighton and scored two goals while providing three assists.
O’Riley has been linked with AS Roma of late, but Brighton fans want him to stay and continue to fulfil his potential at the club.
- Performance: 6/10
Kyogo Furuhashi (Rennes)
Every Celtic fan knows Kyogo has endured an absolutely disastrous second half of the season with new club Rennes in Ligue 1.
The Hoops sold the Japanese striker for £10m because he wanted a fresh challenge having scored 85 goals in 165 games for Celtic.
Kyogo quickly went from hero to zero in France because he failed to score a single goal in the six games he played for Rennes.
He was only handed 120 minutes because the manager who signed him, Jorge Sampaoli, was sacked just days after Kyogo arrived.
New boss Habib Beye isn’t a fan of the former Celtic man and he’s largely been a bystander since.
- Performance: 1/10
Alexandro Bernabei (Internacional)
Celtic conducted a great deal when they sold left-back Alexandro Bernabei to Brazilian giants Internacional for £5m in the January transfer window.
The Argentinian initially moved on loan for the 2024 season but signed permanently for the 2025 campaign, which hasn’t been the best so far.
Remember, the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A campaign runs across the calendar year so Internacional are not even halfway through yet.
They finished 5th last year, but currently sit 14th this time around after 10 games, which has only produced two wins.
Bernabei has scored two goals and provided four assists in 24 matches across all competitions, which for a full-back is pretty good going.
- Performance: 7/10
Oh Hyeon-gyu (Genk)
Oh wasn’t getting near enough game time under Brendan Rodgers and it was best for all parties for him to move on permanently.
Genk decided to pay £4.5m for the South Korean striker, another very good deal for Celtic who only paid £2.5m for him under Ange Postecoglou.
Unfortunately for Oh, his career at Genk is playing out like it did at Parkhead. He’s scoring a decent number of goals, but isn’t getting as many starts as he would like.
Genk finished 3rd in the Belgian Pro League and thus guaranteed themselves a place in the Europa League qualifiers this summer.
However, Oh played just 867 minutes in total across 41 appearances – that’s just over 21 minutes per game for the 24-year-old.
But his goals to minutes ratio is pretty impressive. He scored 12 times in the campaign and that means he netted an average of one goal for Genk every 72 minutes.
- Performance: 7/10
Mikey Johnston (West Bromwich Albion)
Mikey Johnston was a favourite of Brendan Rodgers’ during the Northern Irishman’s first spell in Paradise, but not second time around.
The winger had been with Celtic since his childhood but had to leave to sustain his career, because opportunities were dwindling in Glasgow.
West Bromwich Albion paid £3m for Johnston last summer after the Irishman spent the second half of the 2023/24 season impressing at the club.
The EFL Championship club pushed hard for promotion but ended up falling short in 9th position. Johnston played 40 league games, with 25 of them starts.
He scored three goals for West Brom in all competitions last season while delivering five assists.
- Performance: 6/10
Bosun Lawal (Stoke City)
There’s a common theme here, and it involves Celtic securing great deals for their transfer exits.
The case of Bosun Lawal is certainly no different because the Hoops raked in £2m for a player that came through the academy ranks.
The Irish defender moved to Stoke City, but he only featured eight times for the first-team last season as they finished 18th in the EFL Championship.
Lawal also played five games for their U21 side and managed one assist.
- Performance: 4/10
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