Celtic's transfer signings in recent times have drawn a lot of criticism as most fans believe that the club have not shown enough ambition and have allowed the Rangers to remain competitive when they could have widened the gap if they wanted to. Except for Ange Postecoglou's first season at Parkhead, it is hard to remember successful windows for the Hoops in recent years.
In many cases, the players they have missed out on have been significantly better than the ones they went on to sign. Just during the time of Postecoglou as manager, the likes of Kaoru Mitoma, Ko Itakura, Malick Thiaw, Micky van de Ven and several others were linked with the club, who have gone on to become superstars elsewhere.
The biggest Celtic transfer miss in recent years might have been that of Ivan Toney though. The striker had held talks with the club when he was still at Peterborough United.
Ultimately, Celtic did not sign him. Instead, he ended up joining then Championship club, Brentford. The rest is history. That same summer, the Hoops signed Albian Ajeti from West Ham United for a transfer fee believed to be around £5 million. We all know how that one turned out as well.
Striker Celtic missed out on now worth £100 million
Toney has had an eventful career since then, even receiving a lengthy ban from the FA. He has returned to action recently though and is scoring goals for fun once again.
Clubs like Arsenal and Chelsea have been linked with the striker. As reported by Sky Sports in November of last year, Brentford value Toney at a transfer figure around £100 million.
One can only wonder how things would have turned out if Celtic had signed Toney instead of Ajeti. Would the 2020/21 season have gone as badly as did?