Celtic lost a real star whose value’s soared 1,300%

Celtic booked their place in the final of the League Cup on Saturday with an emphatic 6-0 win over Aberdeen at Hampden Park in the semi-finals.

The Hoops will now face off against Rangers in the final at the national stadium before the end of the year, with an opportunity to seucre their first piece of silverware of the season.

Brendan Rodgers‘ side were beaten 1-0 by Kilmarnock in the competition in August last year, which meant that they had to watch on from afar as the Gers went on to win the League Cup against Aberdeen.

The Northern Irishman is now looking to secure the trophy for the first time since his return to Parkhead in 2023 and is well on his way to doing so, with them now being one match away from glory.

Cameron Carter-Vickers, Kyogo Furuhashi, Daizen Maeda, and Nicolas Kuhn scored the goals for the Scottish giants against the Dons on Saturday, with Maeda scoring a hat-trick.

Kuhn was one of the top performers for the Hoops, with a goal and an assist, and earned himself a staggering player rating of 10/10 from GlasgowWorld.

Nicolas Kuhn’s current market value

At the time of writing (03/11/2024), Transfermarkt currently values the German forward at just €3m (£2.5m) after his relatively slow start to life in Glasgow.

Market Movers

Football FanCast’s Market Movers series explores the changing landscape of the modern transfer market. How much is your club’s star player or biggest flop worth today?

After arriving from Rapid Vienna in January, Kuhn produced two goals and two assists in 14 appearances in the Scottish Premiership in the second half of the 2023/24 campaign.

This season, however, the 24-year-old sensation has been on fire for the Hoops and has taken centre stage for the Hoops after Matt O’Riley’s move to Brighton & Hove Albion.

The left-footed magician has fired in seven goals and provided ten assists in just 15 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish giants this term, including four goals and four assists in three League Cup outings.

Kuhn has been a constant threat across all competitions and has proven his worth in the Premiership on the right wing, with his ability as a scorer and a creator of goals.

As you can see in the table above, the German ace has been directly involved in eight goals in seven starts in the division for the Hoops so far, which speaks to how consistent and dangerous he has been in the final third.

These statistics suggest that his value will not remain at just €3m if he can continue to perform like this, as his value will surely rise alongside his sublime performances on the pitch, given his goal and assists numbers have improved significantly in comparison to last season.

However, there is a former Celtic winger who is currently worth millions more than Kuhn, as his value has soared since moving away from Glasgow earlier in his career – Ben Doak.

How much Celtic recieved for Ben Doak

The youngster came up through the ranks at Parkhead and, remarkably, made his first-team debut in the Premiership under Ange Postecoglou during the 2021/22 campaign.

Doak made two appearances in the top-flight that term as a 16-year-old, making his debut just one month after his 16th birthday, and that speaks to how highly the Australian head coach rated his potential. Postecoglou hailed him as a “fantastic” kid and offered him two chances to experience senior football at such a young age.

However, that was not enough to convince Doak that his future was at Parkhead. The winger opted to move on from the club at the end of the 2021/22 season, signing for Liverpool in the summer of 2022.

His agent revealed that the Scottish forward did not want to stay at Celtic and was not content with playing B team matches in Scotland, which is why he opted to try his luck in the English academy system. This suggests that the Bhoys had little chance of convincing him to stay, no matter how hard they tried.

It was reported that Liverpool had to pay a compensation fee of just £600k to the Scottish giants to secure his signature, which has turned out to be a huge bargain for the Premier League giants.

Ben Doak’s current market value

The teenage gem initially linked up with their academy and caught the eye with his performances at youth level, scoring six goals and providing six assists in 13 appearances in the U18 Premier League and UEFA Youth League combined.

Doak also scored four goals and provided two assists in 12 outings in the Premier League 2 for the U21s, whilst also being handed five first-team appearances by Jurgen Klopp – two of which came in the Premier League.

He then made five appearances in the senior team during the first half of the 2023/24 campaign before suffering a meniscus tear that kept him out for 41 matches for club and country between December 2023 and June 2024.

That disrupted his progress under Klopp, after emerging as a genuine first-team option, and new Liverpool boss Arne Slot decided to send him out on loan to the Championship for the current season.

Second tier side Middlesbrough swooped in to sign the 18-year-old forward on loan for the campaign, and he has been in impressive form for Michael Carrick, who has described him as a “real threat”.

As you can see in the table above, Doak has created 15 chances and scored one goal in six Championship starts for Middlesbrough, but has not been rewarded with an assist, as his teammates have been wasteful in front of goal.

At the time of writing, Transfermarkt currently has the left-footed star’s value at €10m (£8.4m) and this shows that his value has soared by a whopping 1,300% since making the move down south for a compensation fee of £600k, which suggests that he made the right decision to move on from Parkhead.

Doak is currently worth millions more than Kuhn, with both players being left-footed right wingers, and Celtic may rue that they did not get the chance to see him flourish in Glasgow.

Related

Celtic thought they had dream Scott Brown heir, then he left for nothing

The former Celtic defensive midfielder made a strong start to life at Parkhead.