Journalist makes claim on Celtic fee received for Jeremie Frimpong; Bhoys still make healthy profit

By John McGinley

January 28, 2021

There have been conflicting reports on the fee collected for Jeremie Frimpong after his exit from Celtic to Bayer Leverkusen.

The teenager only made 51 appearances for Celtic before requesting a move to Germany.

Celtic cashed in, with Neil Lennon stating the club received a ‘really robust offer’ for the wing-back [Sky Sports].

It was reported by The Daily Record that Celtic had raked in an initial fee of £11.5m, with add-ons set to increase that based on player and club performance.

However, Stefan Bienkowski, who writes about the Bundesliga for The Independent and other outlets has offered an alternative view.

He has reported Leverkusen paid under €10m for the Dutch youth international, which is a significant reduction.

Manchester City are said to have a 30% stake in profit on Frimpong’s sale, after the youngster joined Celtic from the elite English outfit for £350,000 in 2019 [Manchester Evening News].

Jeremie Frimpong fee still represents healthy profit for Celtic

There is undoubted disappointment about the exit of Frimpong to Germany. The teenager has been one of our most promising prospects over the last 18 months. His exit feels too early.

However, if he was truly intent on forcing an exit then Celtic have probably done the right thing by sanctioning his sale.

We’ll probably likely never know the true fee of Frimpong’s sale given the secrecy of football.

However, even at the reported low end, a fee of under €10m would be a dramatic multiplication of the cash paid for him.

Former Celtic defender Jeremie Frimpong / (Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)

If he goes on to bigger things and shines in the German top-flight, it’s also further proof for elite prospects that Celtic is a viable stepping stone in their fledgeling careers.

That’s the model Celtic need to continue cycling through.

Hopefully the negotiating team at Celtic Park have also inserted a healthy sell-on clause.

Good luck Jeremie!

In other news, Celtic look like they’ll fail to strengthen a key position again this January.