Celtic‘s trip to Aberdeen might have been a washout, but it’s still been a positive week for Martin O’Neill and co.
While Wednesday’s postponement provided frustration, St Mirren’s win over Hearts on Tuesday evening has opened the door to the chasing pack, with a Premiership title success still very much on the cards for those at Parkhead.
Off the pitch, too, it proved to be a hectic deadline day for the Glasgow side, with Junior Adamu, Joel Mvuka and Benjamin Arthur all arriving on respective loan deals.
For all the frustration over whether those are the right targets, the Hoops have at least ended the window stronger than they started it, with it hard not to view Adamu and Tomas Cvancara as significant upgrades on Johnny Kenny and Shin Yamada at centre-forward.
Both of Celtic’s two new strikers are reason for excitement, although are they of the level of other notable January targets, such as Kasper Hogh and Tawanda Maswanhise?
How Celtic’s forwards compare to Hogh and Maswanhise
Ever since Kyogo Furuhashi departed for Rennes just over a year ago, a new centre-forward has been a priority for Celtic, with the late summer exit of Adam Idah only heightening that desperation.
Even with Adamu and Cvancara in the door, the only transfer fee that has actually been dished out on a striker in that time is on £1.5m man, Yamada, with the Japanese marksman swiftly departing on loan after failing to score all season.
Callum Osmand and Kelechi Iheanacho, meanwhile, have been hampered by injury since their respective free transfer moves, with the pair scoring just four goals between them over the last six months.
Cvancara, with a goal and assist already in his new surroundings, has shown signs of life, although he had previously scored just ten goals in all competitions since the start of 2023/24.
As for Adamu, the Austrian, signed on loan from Freiburg, has scored just three league goals in that same time frame, with that truly ‘proven’ figure still lacking.
That’s where Motherwell star, Maswanhise, could have come into play, with the reported January target already shining in the Premiership, leading the way this season with 13 goals for the high-flying side.
As for Hogh, the Bodo/Glimt talisman was the subject of an approach from Celtic, yet has ultimately stayed put in Norway, with the Champions League outfit desperate to keep hold of a player who has scored 43 goals in just 83 games.
Alas, the scoring burden under O’Neill will now have to rest elsewhere, although at least Adamu and Cvancara won’t be all on their own in that venture.
The Celtic star who’s worth more than Hogh and Maswanhise
Brendan Rodgers certainly wasn’t blameless for the mess he left following his shock resignation back in October, with the decision to sell Idah without acquiring a suitable replacement simply a headscratching one.
In truth, much of the summer recruitment in general has now come back to bite the club, with Osmand sidelined, Iheanacho routinely absent, and Yamada now sent packing.
Equally, the Scottish champions have already sent Hayato Inamura on his way too, while both Sebastian Tounekti and Michel-Ange Balikwisha have failed to fire, the latter man yet to even score following his £5m arrival from Royal Antwerp.
Kieran Tierney’s free transfer return aside, the only real success story that supporters can point to is that of Benjamin Nygren, with the Swede’s £1.7m capture now looking like a real bargain just six months later.
Now, it must be said, the 24-year-old hasn’t always been a hugely popular figure at Parkhead, perhaps lacking that real burst of pace and power, while guilty of squandering gilt-edged chances.
|
Nygren – 2026 form so far |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Opponent |
Goals |
Assists |
|
Rangers |
0 |
1 |
|
Dundee Utd |
1 |
0 |
|
Falkirk |
1 |
0 |
|
Auchinleck |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Bologna |
0 |
0 |
|
Hearts |
1 |
0 |
|
Utrecht |
1 |
0 |
|
Falkirk |
1 |
0 |
In the Europa League, for instance, he’s already missed five ‘big chances’ from just six starts, having too often been at the scene of the crime in that sense.
For all his profligate nature, however, Nygren is at least one of the few delivering the goods in the final third right now, nestled behind Maswanhise as the league’s second-highest scorer on 12 goals.
Considering this is no orthodox striker, that is a remarkable return, with the elegant playmaker racking up 21 goal involvements in total from his 30 Celtic outings, including his recent efforts against both Falkirk and FC Utrecht.
That impact has seen the former Nordsjaelland man’s market value soar since the summer, with CIES Football Observatory deeming him to be worth €15m (£13m), a significant increase on his initial £1.7m price tag.
For comparison too, the same site deems Hogh to be worth €14m (£12m), while Maswanhise is further down at just €3.2m (£2.5m), highlighting just how impressive Nygren has been in his new surroundings.
It’s fair to say that the recruitment, albeit led by the club, during Rodgers’ second spell simply did not go to plan, yet Nygren’s addition stands out as a real anomaly, with the Swede looking set to be O’Neill’s go-to man as this title race hots up.
Celtic have struck gold on “stunning” star who’s worth even more than Mvuka
Celtic have struck gold with this star who is worth even more than new signing Joel Mvuka.
