Celtic in near £100million player trading bonanza as…

Celtic in near £100million player trading bonanza as huge figure proves transfer policy is paying off

Celtic have made almost £100m in profit in player sales over the past five years.

The Scottish Premiership champions’ player trading model has long been a major source of revenue, with the recruitment policy being one of picking up unearthed gems, developing them and selling on for big money after they impress in green and white. Of course, it’s not failsafe and doesn’t work for every signing. But they've got more right than not over the past half-decade and it’s made for an extremely healthy looking balance sheet.

A @SwissRamble thread deep dives into Celtic’s finances, outlining how they’ve fared since Scottish football emerged from Covid cold storage, how their expenditure has increased and just how key Champions League qualification is when it comes to boosting the finances, such are the riches on offer in Europe’s premier competition. But the figure that stands out is the cash made from flogging stars.

The Hoops have raked in £97million in profit from moving on their top names. Crucially, they’ve still been able to keep winning whilst doing so. It’s offset slightly by transfer spend, but the club is still well in the red on that front. Kieran Tierney's club record switch to Arsenal as well as big moves for Moussa Dembele, Jeremie Frimpong, Odsonne Edouard and Kris Ajer make up the bulk of the money.

Ange Postecoglou looks to be continuing in the same mould, although it remains to be seen whether the players he has brought in will move on for significant sums. The early signs are promising, however.

Matt O’Riley is already being linked with big clubs down south, less than a year after making the move from MK Dons. He’s been called up to the Danish under 21 squad thanks to his displays for Celtic and a full cap might not be too far away, which should help kick up his asking price a bit more.

Josip Juranovic is another who’s attracting interest from some big names. Manchester United and Atletico Madrid have been mentioned as potential suitors and will have to pay far more than the £2.5million Celtic paid to sign from Legia Warsaw. Crucially, though, it’s always imperative when adopting the player trading model to ensure the stars brought in to replace those sold are of the requisite standard. To that end Postecoglou recently insisted he doesn’t fear stars such as Reo Hatate been sold as he already has top players on his transfer wishlist.