Arne Engels and Adam Idah have had one thing thrown at them ever since they secured permanent transfers to Celtic, and that’s their price tag.
The players themselves can’t do anything about it, but Engels is Celtic’s club-record transfer at £11 million, whilst the Hoops paid Norwich City £9 million for Idah in 2024 after his successful six-month loan spell.
Celtic’s 2025 summer transfer window hasn’t gone to plan, and Brendan Rodgers isn’t getting what he wants from the powers that be.
Whilst there are calls for the Celtic board to be more ambitious, one thing being thrown at Rodgers is the fact that he splashed the cash last summer, but Michael Stewart wanted to provide balance to proceedings.
Michael Stewart on Celtic’s transfer sales after big money spent on Arne Engels and Adam Idah
For Celtic’s win over St Mirren on Flag Day over the weekend, there was a lot of money on the bench, including Engels coming on as a late substitute.
Whilst some have pointed towards that, and how Celtic ‘spent a fair few quid last summer’, Stewart wanted to highlight what has left the building.
Speaking on Premier Sports, Stewart stated that Celtic’s net spend ‘isn’t massive’, and it’s to do with the sales of players like Matt O’Riley joining Brighton last summer.
“When you’re talking about spending,” said Stewart. “I have heard a lot of people folk talking about, ‘oh, they spent a fair few quid last summer.’ Engels and Idah. By the way, that’s fair enough.
“But what you need to actually look at, and appreciate as well, is the money they make from selling, so it’s actually not a massive net spend.
“You sell Matt O’Riley. You make a fortune. And then you are spending. Okay, but it’s not actually like they are dipping into the reserves. They are making good money.”
Celtic’s biggest transfer sales since 2020
One thing the Celtic Park faithful can’t argue about is the fact that the club know how to sell players, and it has been proven for many, many years.
During the last five years alone, the money has been coming in with serious speed, including several record sales.
- Matt O’Riley to Brighton for £26m (summer of 2024)
- Jota to Al-Ittihad for £25m (summer 2023)
- Nicolas Kuhn to Como for £16.5m (summer 2025)
- Odsonne Edouard to Crystal Palace for £14m (summer 2021)
- Kristoffer Ajer to Brentford for £13.5m (summer 2021)
- Jeremie Frimpong to Bayer Leverkusen for £11.5m (January 2021)
- Kyogo Furuhashi to Rennes for £10m (January 2025)
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