Celtic continued their sensational start to the Scottish Premiership campaign with a thumping 6-0 victory on their travels away at St Johnstone on Saturday.
The Hoops have now won all six of their matches in the division and are yet to concede a single goal, with a staggering six clean sheets for Kasper Schmeichel already.
Kyogo Furuhashi scored twice in the first half and substitute Adam Idah found the back of the net off the bench in the second half, as Brendan Rodgers‘ strikers combined for half of the team’s goals at the weekend.
The Japan international doubled his tally for the season, having only scored two goals in all competitions before Saturday, but also missed three ‘big chances’ against St Johnstone, and has now missed ten in the Premiership this term.
Idah, who has scored four goals in his last three games, will be hoping to push Kyogo throughout the season and eventually claim a place in the starting XI.
Celtic invested £8.5m to sign the young marksman on a permanent deal from Norwich City in the summer transfer window, which shows that they believe that he has the potential to do that.
However, the Hoops have not always had the best of luck when signing promising centre-forwards who still need to develop, with Vakoun Bayo being one example.
How much Celtic paid for Vakoun Bayo
The Scottish giants swooped to sign the Ivorian striker from Dunajska Streda for a reported fee of £2m in January 2019, to be Odsonne Edouard’s understudy in the same way that Idah is currently Kyogo’s.
He had scored 22 goals and provided nine assists in 32 matches for the Slovakian side in all competitions, which convinced Celtic to splash out a fee of £2m to sign him ahead of the second half of the 2018/19 campaign.
Bayo only made one appearance in all competitions during the second half of that season, as the young forward settled into life in Glasgow following his move from Slovakia.
In the 2019/20 campaign, the Ivory Coast international made 16 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish giants and contributed with two goals and one assist in all competitions.
Celtic decided to send Bayo out on loan to Toulouse in Ligue 2 and the youngster enjoyed a solid season in France, with a return of 13 goals in 36 appearances.
Despite his impressive loan stint, the Hoops took a loss on the forward as they sold him to Belgian side Gent for a fee of £1.4m in the summer of 2021, which meant that they had a howler with the striker as he struggled on the pitch for the club and his value plummeted.
Things could have been very different for the Premiership champions, however, as they had reportedly sent scouts to watch Erling Haaland in action before they signed Bayo.
When Celtic passed up on Erling Haaland
In the summer of 2018, Celtic reportedly sent scouts to watch Haaland when he was playing for Molde in the Europa League against Glenavon in a qualifier.
It was claimed that Hearts and other teams from Europe were also keeping tabs on the Norway youth international at the time, who was 18 and breaking through with Molde.
The young marksman scored four goals in five Europa League qualifiers that term, along with 12 goals in 25 league games during the 2018 campaign, with those scouts in attendance.
However, Celtic did not opt to go any further with their interest in the teenage marksman and that allowed RB Salzburg to swoop in and sign him for a fee of £4.5m in January 2019.
Whilst it may never be known whether or not Haaland would have turned down a switch to Salzburg to play for the Scottish giants, their decision not to act upon their interest in him should be seen as a blunder.
They were clearly in the market to add a young and promising striker to the squad, hence the move for Bayo in the same window that the Norwegian star joined the Austrian outfit, but they opted to sign the Ivorian instead.
Haaland is certainly one that got away for Celtic as he is worth significantly more than the £4.5m that he was available for at the start of 2019.
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.
Erling Haaland’s current market value
At the time of writing (30/09/2024), his current market value on Transfermarkt is a staggering €180m (£152m) and that is, obviously, far more than the fee Salzburg paid for him.
Haaland scored a sensational 29 goals in 27 games for the Austrian outfit before Borussia Dortmund swooped in to sign him in January 2020.
The Norway international then fired in 86 goals in 89 matches for the German giants, including 62 goals in 67 matches in the Bundesliga, before earning his move to Manchester City.
In the summer of 2022, the Cityzens paid a reported fee of £88.5m to sign the centre-forward from Dortmund and they have not looked back since.
The 24-year-old marksman has made breaking record a habit during his time in England so far. He scored the most goals in a single season in Premier League history in his debut campaign with City, firing in 36 goals for the club in the 2022/23 term.
He also went on to become the quickest player in the league’s history to hit 50 goals in the competition, as it took him just 48 games – the next quickest being Andy Cole with 65 matches.
|
24/25 Premier League |
Erling Haaland |
|---|---|
|
Appearances |
6 |
|
xG |
6.25 |
|
Goals |
10 |
|
Big chances missed |
3 |
|
Minutes per goal |
54 |
As you can see in the table above, Haaland has enjoyed a sublime start to the current campaign, with ten goals in six matches, and may even have breaking his own record of 36 goals in one season in his sights.
The former Malde ace has scored 100 goals in 106 appearances for City in all competitions since his move to the club just over two years ago, and has established himself as a global superstar in football.
Therefore, he is one that got away for Celtic as they ended up signing Bayo, for only £2.5m less than Salzburg paid for Haaland, instead of landing the generational striker.
