Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was able to make more alterations to his playing roster during the current summer transfer window, which officially closed last month.
It was his second summer as Celtic manager, and the board backed him in the transfer market with a number of additions.
Adam Idah, Paulo Bernardo, Alex Valle, Kasper Schmeichel, Viljami Sinisalo, Luke McCowan, Arne Engels, and Auston Trusty were all brought in by the Scottish giants.
They did, however, lose star midfielder Matt O’Riley. The Denmark international completed a move to Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion for a reported fee of more than £25m.
Rodgers also cashed in on some of the fringe players in his squad. Mikey Johnston, Sead Haksabanovic, Hyeon-gyu Oh, and Tomoki Iwata were all allowed to leave on permanent deals to make room for new additions.
That came after the Hoops boss had been able to ditch David Turnbull, Liel Abada, and Yosuke Ideguchi on permanent deals during the January transfer window.
David Turnbull’s time with Celtic
In the summer of 2020, Celtic swooped to sign the attacking midfielder from Motherwell in a deal that was reportedly worth up to £3.25m – a record fee for their Scottish Premiership rivals.
The Bhoys wanted to sign the Scottish youngster in the summer of 2019 but it was revealed that he needed to have surgery on a knee injury, which ended up restricting him to two appearances in the 2019/20 campaign, and they came back the following year to finally complete a deal.
Turnbull hit the ground running at Parkhead with a return of eight goals and seven assists from central midfield in 31 Premiership appearances for Celtic during the 2020/21 season.
However, Ange Postecoglou joined the club in the summer of 2021, and the Scotland international’s involvement was limited due to the Australians’ 4-3-3 formation.
Turnbull only started 26 Premiership games during his two seasons as manager of Celtic, four fewer than he did in his initial season with the Scottish giants.
Rodgers succeeded Postecoglou in the dugout in the summer of 2023, but the Northern Irish head coach did not give the midfielder frequent starts.
As you can see in the table above, Turnbull started nine times and came off the bench as a substitute in seven games during the first half of last season, contributing with an eye-catching seven goals.
Despite his impressive goalscoring record for Celtic, Rodgers decided that the central midfielder was surplus to requirements in the January transfer window.
The 25-year-old dynamo eventually secured a permanent exit from Parkhead as Championship side Cardiff City swooped in to sign him for a reported fee of £2m, which meant that the club made a loss on the deal that they agreed with Motherwell.
Things could have been different for Celtic, however, if they had signed a player they had recommended to them before they opted to sign Turnbull.
Celtic’s chance to sign Moises Caicedo
In the summer of 2023, the Daily Mail reported that the Hoops were once told to swoop for Moises Caicedo, who was playing for Independiente del Valle in Ecuador at the time, in 2020.
A talent spotter for the Scottish giants told Neil Lennon to sign the teenage defensive midfielder and claimed that he would have been available for a fee of around £1m at the time.
Celtic had money to spend that summer. They paid £4.5 million on Vasilis Barkas, £5 million on Albian Ajeti, and the previously mentioned £3.25 million on Turnbull, indicating that they would not have had any difficulty paying £1 million on Caicedo.
However, for unclear reasons, Lennon and the club chose not to act on that recommendation and, as a result, passed up the opportunity to recruit the player for a fee of only £1 million, instead signing Turnbull as their only central midfield addition that summer.
Less than one year later, Brighton & Hove Albion swooped to agree a £4m deal with Independiente del Valle, and he spent six months on loan with Beerschot VA in Belgium before his breakthrough in England.
Since his emergence down south, the 22-year-old star has gone from strength to strength and appears to be one that got away for the Scottish side.
