Rodgers once beat Celtic to PL star in the making

Brendan Rodgers has been backed by the Celtic board within the final three switch home windows since their choice to deliver him again for a second spell at Parkhead.

The Northern Irish head coach was capable of splash a club-record £11m on central midfielder Arne Engels within the latest summer time switch window, which speaks to how a lot the board imagine in him.

He was additionally capable of spend a price of as much as £9.5m on Eire worldwide Adam Idah, who spent the second half of final season on mortgage from Norwich Metropolis, which signifies that the Hoops might find yourself paying over £20m for these two gamers mixed.

One place that Rodgers was already lined in in the course of the summer time was right-back, nonetheless, as Alistair Johnston has been a terrific operator for the Bhoys in latest seasons.

The Canada worldwide has created 4 ‘huge probabilities’ in six matches within the Scottish Premiership to this point this time period, after the full-back created 11 ‘huge probabilities’ in 32 outings within the division in the course of the 2023/24 marketing campaign.

Celtic have hardly ever had issues discovering a high quality right-back possibility, definitely lately, and one other piece of very good recruitment in that place by the membership was the signing of Jeremie Frimpong.

How a lot Celtic paid for Jeremie Frimpong

In the summertime of 2019, Hoops boss Neil Lennon swooped to signal the younger defender from Premier League giants Manchester Metropolis for a reported price of £300k.

That turned out to be an enormous discount for the Scottish giants as a result of the Dutch full-back went on to be a implausible participant for Celtic, and made the membership a major revenue.

Frimpong produced two targets and three assists in 14 matches within the Premiership throughout his debut season with the membership as a teenage expertise making his first strides in senior soccer.

As you possibly can see within the desk above, the Dutchman then made 22 appearances in the course of the first half of the subsequent season and caught the attention with 1.5 key passes per recreation and 5 ‘huge probabilities’ created.

In January of that marketing campaign, German aspect Bayer Leverkusen swooped in to signal the defender for a reported price of £11.5m, which was an enormous revenue on the £300k that the Hoops had paid for him in 2019.

Frimpong solely spent 18 months on the membership, from the summer time of 2019 to January 2021, however emerged as an attacking right-back possibility for Lennon and earned Celtic tens of millions by making the transfer to the Bundesliga.

Since his exit, the 23-year-old star has scored 26 targets and assisted 36 in 151 matches for Leverkusen, while Transfermarkt presently worth him at £42m.

Issues might have been totally different for Celtic, and Frimpong, although if that they had landed one among their different right-back targets in the summertime of 2021 – James Justin.

Celtic’s curiosity in James Justin

The Hoops had been in search of a alternative for Mikael Lustig in that summer time switch window and, amazingly, a switch doc was leaked detailing various the membership’s targets – together with the English full-back.

Celtic wanted a brand new right-back and Justin was one of many names on that record of targets, having caught the attention for Luton City within the 2018/19 marketing campaign.

The 21-year-old star was seen as a alternative for Lustig however the Scottish giants knew it might be a troublesome deal to do, as Aston Villa, Leicester Metropolis, Stoke Metropolis, Fulham, Southampton, and Crystal Palace had been all additionally eager on snapping him up.

He had simply been named within the League One Workforce of the Season for the Hatters and would have arrived at Parkhead as an in-form starlet with the potential to enhance.

Nonetheless, Celtic had been unable to win the race for his signature and had been, apparently, overwhelmed to his providers by their present supervisor – Brendan Rodgers – as Leicester signed him for a reported price of £8m.

It was reported that Lee Congerton, who had been his head of recruitment in Glasgow and adopted him to the Foxes, beneficial the signing of the English right-back, after the pair had left the Hoops to maneuver to the King Energy earlier that 12 months.

James Justin’s present market worth

On the time of writing (04/10/2024), Transfermarkt presently has Justin’s market worth at €15m (£12.5m) and that’s considerably lower than Frimpong (£42m) is presently value.

In simply over 5 years with the Foxes, the 26-year-old defender has racked up 9 targets and 6 assists in 134 appearances in all competitions for Leicester.

69 of these appearances so far have come within the Premier League and the ex-Luton star earned himself one cap for England in the summertime of 2022.

Nonetheless, his progress in England was closely disrupted by two horrible damage blows. The primary got here when he tore his cruciate ligament in February 2021, which saved him out of motion for 331 days and 68 aggressive matches.

In November 2022, the full-back, who was described as a “pleasure to look at” by journalist Josh Bunting, then ruptured his Achilles tendon and was on the sidelines for 204 days and 30 aggressive video games for the Foxes.

He has battled again from these damage points, although, and made 39 appearances within the Championship to assist Leicester to win the title within the 2023/24 marketing campaign.

As you possibly can see within the desk above, Justin has made a robust begin to the membership’s first season again within the Premier League, with two targets in six video games – each coming towards Arsenal.

Celtic might look again on him as one which bought away, as he was a Premier League star within the making and his worth has soared since his transfer to Leicester, however they may additionally see it as a fortunate escape as a result of they signed Frimpong as an alternative and he went on to make the membership tens of millions in revenue.

Though, they may have signed each and located a option to match them each in – as Justin has performed 96 video games as a left-back in his profession – and had two extremely proficient full-back prospects at Parkhead.