Massive claim made about £9.9 million Celtic transfer

It is safe to say that for many players, Celtic ends up being a stepping stone to one of the big five European leagues. While the Hoops might be one of the biggest clubs on the planet, the reality of the situation is that the Scottish league cannot compete with several others across Europe in terms of finances. And thus, the Glasgow giants are often forced to let a number of their top prospects go in order to keep the wheel moving.

One of the brightest young players that Celtic have had in recent years is Jeremie Frimpong. But he did not spend a long time at Parkhead, joining Bayer Leverkusen for a transfer fee around £9.9 million just a year-and-a-half after arriving at Parkhead.

While Frimpong had his fair share of critics during his time at Celtic, he has been absolutely superb during his time at Bayer Leverkusen and established himself as one of the most exciting youngsters in the Bundesliga. He could have been an excellent fit in Ange Postecoglou’s system but never played under the Australian.

In a tweet, Chris Hamill described the £9.9 million fee as ‘starting to look very, very cheap’ and he certainly had the stats to back the claim up:

"Jeremie Frimpong since leaving Celtic for Bayer Leverkusen:Most fouled U23 player in Europe (this season)In the top 2% of fullbacks for dribbles & progressive carried (last 365 days)2 UCL assists in 107 minutes"

Did Celtic make a mistake by letting the right-back go?

It is safe to say that in hindsight, Frimpong was a better player than he got credit for. At the end of the day, he did receive quite a bit of criticism during the 2020/21 campaign, especially for his defensive awareness and his crossing.

Those two things have certainly improved in Frimpong’s game since making the move to Germany, or the style of football there suits him much better.

Perhaps Celtic did let him leave a bit too early. But then at the same time, one has to wonder how much push there was on the side of the player to move, with the Hoops in the middle of a disastrous campaign and a club like Bayer Leverkusen coming in for him.