Celtic "were close" to signing £40m star who's now outscoring Kyogo & Kuhn
da casino： Celtic are often praised for their transfer strategy at Parkhead, actually named the best-run club in Britain by the Fair Game Index last year.
da mrbet： Over the last decade or so, the Hoops have made a massive profit with the likes of Ange Postecoglou, Brendan Rodgers and Neil Lennon selling players such as Matt O’Riley, Jota, Moussa Dembélé, Kristoffer Ajer, Virgil van Dijk and many others.
Kyogo Furuhashi is perhaps the most notable recent example. A scorer of 12 goals in Celtic colours this term, he departed in January to the tune of £10m.
However, there is one striker in particular the Celts must rue missing out on and he’s now outscoring that man Kyogo.
How Celtic are coping with Kyogo's departure
One man chiefly; Daizen Maeda.
The striker’s red-hot form continued at the weekend, bagging a brace against Heart of Midlothian, taking his tally to 30 goals for the campaign, described by former Hibs and Hearts midfielder Michael Stewart as “top class”.
However, Maeda aside, Celtic’s other forwards have not been hitting the heights of late, as the table below outlines.
Celtic’s attackers in 2025
Players
Appearances
Goals
Daizen Maeda
17
17
Jota
12
4
Nicolas Kühn
18
4
Adam Idah
19
6
Yang Hyun-Jun
15
5
James Forrest
1
Zero
All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt
The form of Nicolas Kühn has been particularly disappointing, considering he scored 14 times during the first half of the campaign, on course to be Celtic’s player of the season, but has now only scored twice since 5 January. That said, he looks well-set to replace Kyogo’s output in time.
Adam Idah meantime, has failed to nail down a regular starting spot, with Maeda often favoured as the centre-forward, despite being signed for a huge £9.5m fee from Norwich last summer.
So, would the Hoops’ centre-forward issue have been solved if they had been able to complete a deal to sign a “world-class” striker a few years ago? He’s now better than Kyogo.
The world-class striker Celtic almost signed
Back in the summer of 2020, Celtic almost signed Ivan Toney from Peterborough United, with then manager Neil Lennon later admitting, “we were close to getting him… I was really interested”.
Toney himself stated, “I went up there… I was actually at the training ground” Lennoxtown, which is how close the move came.
Instead, Toney joined Brentford for £5m, firing the Bees to promotion in his first season, finishing as the EFL Championship’s top-scorer, before netting 36 times in the Premier League for the club.
One that got away
The transfers that nearly happened but never did. This article is part of Football FanCast’s One That Got Away series.
Manager Thomas Frank described him as “world-class”, before the England international was sold to Saudi Pro League side Al Ahli last summer, costing a reported fee of £40m.
In the Saudi top-flight, only Cristiano Ronaldo, Abderrazak Hamdallah and Marcos Leonardo have scored more goals than Toney this season, so let’s assess his season-by-season statistics since almost signing for Celtic.
Ivan Toney season statistics (2020-present)
Seasons
Division
Appearances
Goals
2020/21
EFL Championship
52
33
2021/22
Premier League
37
14
2022/23
Premier League
35
21
2023/24
Premier League
17
4
2024/25
Saudi Pro League
33
22
All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt
In the 2022/23 Premier League season, Ivan Toney was the division’s third-highest scorer, behind only Erling Haaland and Harry Kane, although the following campaign was massively hampered by his eight-month ban for breaching FA betting regulations.
Now in Saudi Arabia, Toney has rediscovered his best form, with Middle Eastern football expert Uri Levy describing his performances for Al Ahli as ‘fantastic’, advocating for him to receive an England recall.
His tally of 22 goals so far this season for Matthias Jaissle’s side means he has scored more goals than both Adam Idah (14) and Nicolas Kühn (18) this season, while doing so at a slightly-higher level; Global Football Rankings believes the Saudi Pro League to be the 31st strongest division in the world, with the Scottish Premiership down at 34th.
Thus, despite their continued domestic dominance, it’s hard to argue that Celtic wouldn’t be stronger with Toney spearheading their attack.
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