Celtic hit gold with star sold for more than Kyogo

Celtic forward Daizen Maeda continued his sensational season with yet another goal in the club’s 5-1 win over Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership last weekend.

The Hoops romped to a comfortable victory in front of their home support to bounce back from their disappointing 1-0 defeat away to St. Johnstone in their previous outing in the top-flight.

A close-range strike from Maeda, as well as some stunning goals from Reo Hatate and Cameron Carter-Vickers, helped the Scottish giants on their way to all three points.

Brendan Rodgers’ Japanese marksman has been in phenomenal form in front of goal throughout the 2024/25 campaign, notching his 31st goal of the season against Kilmarnock.

The experienced forward has scored 31 goals and provided nine assists in 45 appearances in all competitions for the Hoops so far this term, which shows that he has provided a regular threat in front of goal as both a scorer and a creator for Celtic.

Rodgers needed him, and others, to step up at the top end of the pitch after the club sanctioned the sale of proven goalscorer Kyogo Furuhashi in the January transfer window.

How much Rennes paid for Kyogo Furuhashi

Shortly after Celtic’s 1-0 win over Young Boys in the Champions League, there was talk about a possible move to France for the Japanese forward before the deadline.

Six days on from that victory, which turned out to be the striker’s last appearance for the club, Rennes officially completed the signing of Kyogo for a reported fee of £10m.

Deciding to move on from the Japan international midway through the campaign was a gamble by the Scottish giants, given the quality that he had provided over the years in Glasgow.

Kyogo joined the club from Vissel Kobe on a permanent transfer in the summer of 2021 under the management of Ange Postecoglou, and hit the ground running with 20 goals in all competitions in the 2021/22 campaign.

As you can see in the table above, the Japanese centre-forward was a consistent goal threat for the Scottish giants throughout his time in Glasgow, scoring at least 12 goals in all four of his seasons at Parkhead.

His best year in a Hoops jersey was, as is obvious by looking at the table, the 2022/23 campaign as he plundered a staggering 34 goals in all competitions for Celtic.

His form in front of goal over those seasons eventually allowed the club to rake in £10m for his services in the January transfer window, but he is not the most expensive striker sold by the Hoops in the past decade.

How much Celtic paid for Odsonne Edouard

In the summer of 2018, Celtic decided to splash the cash on a new centre-forward to bring Odsonne Edouard from Paris Saint-Germain to Paradise in a club-record £9m transfer.

The French marksman had spent the 2017/18 season on loan in Glasgow, scoring 11 goals in 28 matches, and that convinced the board to sign the attacker on a permanent deal in a record transfer ahead of the following campaign.

Edouard followed that up with a return of 22 goals and eight assists in 52 matches in all competitions during the 2018/19 season, including 15 goals in the Premiership – as shown in the highlights above.

The former PSG starlet went on to be a reliable threat at the top end of the pitch for the Scottish giants for several years, racking up 87 goals and 37 assists in 179 outings for the club in all competitions.

These statistics show that Celtic hit the jackpot by splashing out a club-record fee to sign him on a permanent deal because he went on to become a prolific scorer for the Hoops in his three seasons in Glasgow as a permanent player.

The Hoops then went on to strike gold on the centre-forward by making a significant profit on the attacker when they sold him to Premier League side Crystal Palace ahead of the 2021/22 campaign.

How Celtic hit the jackpot with Odsonne Edouard

The English side swooped for his services in the summer of 2021, as they looked to bolster their options at the top end of the pitch, and they agreed a reported deal worth up to £18.5m.

Market Movers

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Eagles chairman Steve Parish described Edouard as a striker with “proven quality”, based on his time with Celtic, and that is why Palace were willing to commit a huge sum of money to sign him.

The French centre-forward’s value, therefore, soared by a whopping £9.5m during his spell with the Hoops, from the £9m that they initially paid for him, and that shows that they hit the jackpot with him.

Edouard was also sold for £8.5m more than Kyogo was in January, despite his impressive goal return for the Bhoys, which speaks to how well the club did to rake in that fee from Palace.

Celtic also hit gold with the sale of the Frenchman because he has only scored 21 goals in all competitions in his four years in England to date, with all 21 of those coming for Palace and none in his current loan spell with Leicester City.

As you can see in the table above, his market value has plummeted from £18.5m to £8.5m in the last four years as a result of his lack of goals for Palace and Leicester since his move away from Parkhead.

This suggests that the Scottish giants played a blinder by cashing in on him in the summer of 2021 because he has regressed since leaving Glasgow and is now worth even less than the initial £9m that the Hoops paid to sign him from PSG.

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