Celtic missed out on signing an England international who is now picking up £400,000-a-week and has gone on to star away from Parkhead.
Celtic’s record signings
The Hoops have splashed the cash by their standards in recent years, breaking their transfer record last summer by bringing Arne Engels to Celtic Park.
Celtic chiefs enjoyed more success in the 2024/25 Champions League under Brendan Rodgers, and they may look to spend to become even more competitive in Europe.
Arne Engels
2024
£11m
Adam Idah
2024
£9.5m
Odsonne Edouard
2018
£9m
Jota
2025
£8m
Christopher Jullien
2019
£7m
Jota
2022
£6.5m
Auston Trusty
2024
£6m
Cameron Carter-Vickers
2022
£6m
John Hartson
2001
£6m
Chris Sutton
2000
£6m
Three of Celtic’s five most expensive signings of all time have happened since 2024, and asked whether or not the Hoops will be busy ahead of the 25/26 season, Rodgers said: “Yes, I think so.
“Again, we have to look at and adapt to situations as well. We all know fine well, here there’s a player trading model, which means that we will probably get offers for some of our players in the summer. And if that happens, then we have to be flexible and be able to adapt to that.
“If I said that everyone now would be here, then you’d maybe only have a few, two to three players coming in of high quality, but we’ll just have to see.”
Celtic's most expensive sales of all time
Celtic have let some of their finest talents move for big money in the past.
ByCharlie SmithOct 3, 2025
Before Rodgers returned to Glasgow, though, Celtic missed out on signing a striker who has gone on to become a star.
Celtic missed out on signing Ivan Toney for £5m flop
Before joining Brentford in 2020, Ivan Toney was wanted in Scotland while on the books at Peterborough United.
Toney actually admitted he had talks with Celtic but “wanted to be the main guy”, which was why he moved to the Bees.
“Then I went to Celtic, we spoke to Celtic, and I think it was the same there. I was one of three strikers or something like this, and at the time when I was moving, I wanted to be the main guy. The crucial thing was playing games, even though I back myself to compete with other strikers, I wanted to know when I first went through the door that I was the main man.
“I feel that when I spoke to the manager at Brentford he pretty much said you were the main guy and I don’t see anyone taking your spot.”
It has proven to be a costly mistake for Celtic, who ended up spending £5m on Albian Ajeti instead, with the Swiss striker not living up to the hype in Scotland.
As we know with Toney, he would help get Brentford promoted to the Premier League and star in the top flight, earning England caps along the way.
Ivan Toney’s career in pictures
In 2024, the centre-forward then sealed a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia with Al-Ahli, where he has continued to score on a regular basis and now collects in excess of £400,000-a-week.
That contract runs until 2028, so Celtic will surely look back on this and wish they offered Toney the main guy role he was after at the time instead of signing Ajeti.