Having spent the majority of the summer lamenting Celtic’s seeming reluctance to spend any of their vast reserves of disposable cash, it would be quite the volte-face to now complain about them spending too much.
That is where we are though, with many supporters baulking at the outlay it took to finally get the Adam Idah deal across the line. The total sum that could eventually head south to Norwich City could reach £9.5m, providing Idah hits certain milestones along the way during his stay in Glasgow, with around £1m shy of that total being transferred to Carrow Road immediately.
Should the fee eventually reach £9.5m, that would represent the biggest single outlay on a player in Celtic’s history, just pipping the £9m they spent recruiting Odsonne Edouard from Paris Saint Germain back in 2018.
This may explain why some Celtic supporters are uneasy at the price tag attached to Idah, as the obvious thing to do is to draw comparisons between the players and use Edouard as the yard stick that represents value for money at that level of spend.
That deal though was six years ago now, and times have moved on. To get an international striker who has not only performed well over the piece in the English Championship, but who has already proven he can score goals in Scotland and handle the pressure that comes with wearing the Celtic jersey, wouldn’t seem to represent bad business when viewed from such a perspective.
The only sensible comparison to the Edouard situation is that Celtic also know exactly what they are getting in Idah, having had him on loan prior to investing in making the move a permanent one. It is a strategy that has proved a lucrative one in the past for Celtic not only with Edouard, but with Jota too, and the likelihood is that when Cameron Carter-Vickers eventually moves on, he will also net the club a tidy profit.
They will be hoping that Idah can do the same in time, and if he can replicate the form he showed in the second half of last season, as well as bag a few goals at Champions League level, then he may well do just that.
In the here and now though, it was simply imperative that Celtic concluded this deal, having seemingly placed all of their eggs in the Idah basket. They currently have an unsustainable situation in their attacking ranks, with only Kyogo Furuhashi available as a recognised central striker in the early knockings of the season.
Kyogo went down a couple of times at Easter Road and required treatment, clutching his troublesome shoulder at one point to provoke palpitations in the Celtic dugout, and Brendan Rodgers was eventually forced to withdraw him from the action.
Without Idah to call upon, he was left to shuffle his pack, with Mikey Johnston eventually leading the line instead of Daizen Maeda, who was positioned in his usual left wing station.
You might be able to get away with that when you are 2-0 to the good and seeing a game out at Easter Road, but it was far from desirable position to be in, and it is perhaps what finally persuaded Celtic to meet Norwich more than halfway to get Idah back into their squad ahead of the League Cup fixture against Hibs on Sunday. And perhaps more importantly, for the league game against Rangers in a couple of weeks' time.
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So, yes, going by the standards of six years ago, £9.5m is a lot to pay for a player of Idah’s current calibre, but not now, and the 23-year-old would seem to have the potential to develop further working under Rodgers, who stated back in January how excited he was by the raw attributes that Idah possessed.
With more time to work with him and mould him, and smooth off the rough edges to his game, it stands to reason that Idah will only get better during his now extended stay in Glasgow.
Not that Idah could exactly be slated as that most dreaded of labels to be attached to a new Celtic signing – a ‘project’ – either.
This is exactly the type of signing that observers such as myself and many others among the Celtic fanbase, in fairness, have been advocating that the club should be making more regularly. By pushing the boat out just a little further, they will go into the season (and their European campaign) with greater quality to call upon, while also giving themselves a greater chance to reap the benefits further down the line.
And if you still think the fee paid out for Idah is on the steep side, consider this. The combined cost of bringing Albian Ajeti, Oh Hyeon-gyu and Marco Tillio to the club was around the same amount. And if you also factor in the fees Celtic have received this summer for Oh, Sead Haksabanovic and now Bosun Lawal, they have all-but paid for this move by moving on players who were unlikely to make any sort of contribution to the first team this season in any case.
Instead of three gambles, Celtic have lumped on an all-but sure thing, and their fans will hope this is a sign of things to come in the rest of the window.
Because make no mistake, the Celtic squad still needs to be improved if they are to give themselves a fighting chance of making the knockout stages of the Champions League, with reinforcements required at left back and centre back in particular. And that’s before we even consider the seemingly imminent departure of Matt O’Riley.
Time will tell if the Idah signing signals that Rodgers has won the battle of hearts and minds with the club’s board that has led them to becoming braver in the market, as he said he had to after the largely disappointing winter window, and that a new era of quality over quantity has been ushered into the Celtic transfer strategy.
The signing of Idah, though, is a good start.
