Celtic, as is the case with every club in the world, have made some poor signings over the years in their efforts to improve their first-team squad.
Michel-Ange Balikwisha is one such example. The winger was signed from Royal Antwerp for a fee of £5m last summer to bolster Brenden Rodgers’ options on the flanks.
However, Sebastian Tounekti, who plays in the same position as him, was signed in the same transfer window and has been selected ahead of him throughout the campaign.
Balikwisha did not make the squad for the 2-1 win over Dundee in the SFA Cup on Saturday and has not featured in a Scottish Premiership squad since the 7th December against Hearts.
In fact, his last appearance in the Premiership for the Hoops came in the 4-0 win over Falkirk under Martin O’Neill in October, as he came off the bench in that comfortable win.
The forward does, however, have two assists in 398 minutes of action for Celtic, so far, and he may feel that a lack of game time is the reason why he has struggled.
The £5m flop who may be Celtic’s worst ever signing
Whilst Balikwisha still has time on his side to turn things around, there is a £5m Celtic signing who may go down as one of their worst ever signings, and possibly the worst ever.
Celtic’s most expensive signings of all time
The Hoops have made some sensible signings over the years.
Albian Ajeti may not crack the club’s list of their most expensive signings of all time, but the Hoops paid £5m for a player they later sold for just £500k.
The Switzerland international scored nine goals in 48 matches in all competitions during a three-year stint in Glasgow, before being sold to Gaziantep for £4.5m less than the £5m that they paid West Ham United for his services.
Ajeti was brought in to be a consistent and reliable goalscorer in the number nine position for the Scottish giants, yet ended up averaging a goal every 5.3 appearances in all competitions.
It is hard to look past him possibly being the worst signing ever made by the club, due to the money that was spent on him, the output of goals in return, and the dismal fee that they raked in for him after three years.
Unfortunately, a Celtic player who played against Dundee on Saturday is now looking like the club’s worst signing since they brought Ajeti to Parkhead.
The Celtic flop who looks like the worst signing since Ajeti
As aforementioned, Balikwisha has been a bad signing so far. The club paid a lot of money for him and he is rarely getting time on the pitch, but he has, at least, provided two assists, and may just need more minutes to show his quality.
However, Joel Mvuka, as harsh as it is to say, already looks like an even worse signing than the Belgian and possibly the club’s worst signing since Ajeti.
Celtic signed the Norwegian forward on loan from Lorient on deadline day to bolster their options out wide, and it was a move that surprised one journalist who covers French football.
Robin Bairner described it as a “weird” move because Mvuka is a “mediocre Ligue 1 player” and added that it “smacks of the Celtic board feeling they’re better doing something rather than nothing”, which seemed rather harsh at the time.
The 23-year-old dud’s performances for Lorient in the French top-flight during the first half of the 2025/26 campaign did, however, back up Bairner’s criticism of the winger.
|
25/26 Ligue 1 |
Joel Mvuka |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
15 |
|
Goals |
0 |
|
xA |
0.69 |
|
Key passes per game |
0.3 |
|
Assists |
0 |
|
Successful dribbles per game |
0.4 |
Mvuka offered close to nothing at the top end of the pitch during his time in Ligue 1 in the first half of this season, and his debut for Celtic explains why that may have been the case.
The right-footed attacker was selected to start on the right wing by O’Neill in the clash with Dundee on Saturday in the SFA Cup, with Hyun-jun Yang and Tomas Cvancara.
Unfortunately, Mvuka produced a dismal first half performance before being withdrawn from the match at half-time, as the manager decided not to bring him out for the second 45.
The Norwegian dud did not look at the same technical level as his teammates at the top end of the pitch. There were a lot of awkward touches and body feints that did not deceive the Dundee defenders, and it led to a very ineffective performance.
Given that Mvuka has never scored more than three goals in a season in his career, it should not be too much of a surprise that he did not hit the ground running for the Hoops, but his general play left a lot to be desired.
It may be incredibly harsh after just one outing, but Mvuka is already looking like Celtic’s worst piece of business since they signed Ajeti for £5m, because of his career record, Bairner’s evaluation of the move at the time of it happening, and how poor his debut was.
Balikwisha, at least, had scored 14 goals in his last two seasons with Royal Antwerp to, somewhat, justify the signing, whilst Mvuka has never scored more than three goals or provided more than six assists in a single league campaign.
Hopefully, the former Bodo/Glimt star will prove everyone wrong and go on to be a success at Parkhead. Unfortunately, he got off on the wrong foot in front of the Parkhead faithful.
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