Celtic made a huge profit in the transfer market when they decided to cash in on attacking midfielder Matt O’Riley at the start of the 2024/25 campaign.
Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion swooped in to secure a deal for the Denmark international for a fee that is reported to be worth more than £25m.
The Hoops struck gold with the English-born star, who they paid £1.5m for from MK Dons at the start of 2022, as they made a profit of more than £23.5m on him.
Celtic's most profitable stars
O’Riley is not the first example of a big profit for the Glaswegian side with their player trading model undoubtedly the very best in Scotland.
Just think of academy graduate Kieran Tierney who was sold to Arsenal in a mega £25m deal. Think Odsonne Edouard who also left for the Premier League, heading in the direction of Crystal Palace for a fee of around £14m.
The profit Celtic made on Kristoffer Ajer was colossal too. Signed the Dane as a teenager for a price of £500k, he subsequently headed to Brentford in a move that cost the London side a fee of £13.5m.
So, who could be the next mega-money mover out of Parkhead? Well, they’re well and truly set to strike gold if they ship off one of their Champions League stars of the recent week and a bit…
Celtic's next mega-money sale
In the January transfer window at the start of 2024, Brendan Rodgers looked to improve his options out wide and turned to the Austrian Bundesliga to sign a German forward.
It was reported that the Scottish giants splashed out a fee of £3m to sign 24-year-old winger Nicolas Kuhn from Rapid Vienna on a five-and-a-half-year deal.
In the first half of the 2023/24 campaign, Kuhn had two goals, five assists, and 11 ‘big chances’ created in 16 appearances in the Bundesliga for his former club.
He followed that up with a return of two goals, two assists, and five ‘big chances’ created in 14 outings for Celtic in the Scottish Premiership during the second half of the season.
Market Movers
Football FanCast's Market Movers series explores the changing landscape of the modern transfer market. How much is your club's star player or biggest flop worth today?
The left-footed wizard’s form during the current campaign, after a full pre-season with the Hoops, has now garnered interest from elsewhere and caused his value to soar.
Nicolas Kuhn's current market value in 2024
Sky Sports journalist Florian Plettenberg claimed that Premier League teams Fulham and Brentford have both been keeping tabs on the German attacker and are eyeing up a possible move for the winger.
It was also recently reported by Kronen Zeitung, via the Daily Record, that a potential fee of €30m (£25m) has been discussed for the former Bayern Munich youngster, which would be around the same value as O’Riley’s move to Brighton.
This means that his value, as it stands, has soared by a staggering 733% from the initial £3m that the club paid to sign him from Rapid Vienna at the start of the year, showing that the Hoops hit the jackpot when they brought him to Parkhead.
Starts
8
Sofascore rating
7.69
Goals
4
Assists
6
Key passes per game
2.2
As you can see in the table above, Kuhn has been on fire in the Premiership so far this season, with ten direct goal contributions in eight starts.
In all competitions, the impressive sensation has contributed with ten goals and 11 assists in 14 starts in all competitions, which shows that he has consistently made a huge impact in the final third, hence why his value has soared.
Kuhn was described as a “cheat code” by pundit Lee Miller recently, which is backed up by his statistics, and his sensational performances on the pitch show that the club have struck gold with him.
Rodgers could land Kyogo upgrade in Celtic swoop for "impressive" marksman
Celtic have been linked with an interest in a swoop for the in-form centre-forward.
1 ByDan EmeryNov 13, 2024
It will now be interesting to see whether or not Brentford, Fulham or another potentially interested side, are willing to come in with an offer of £25m or more when the window opens for business.
