Rodgers once beat Celtic to PL star in the making

Brendan Rodgers has been backed by the Celtic board in the last three transfer windows since their decision to bring him back for a second spell at Parkhead.

The Northern Irish head coach was able to splash a club-record £11m on central midfielder Arne Engels in the recent summer transfer window, which speaks to how much the board believe in him.

He was also able to spend a fee of up to £9.5m on Ireland international Adam Idah, who spent the second half of last season on loan from Norwich City, which means that the Hoops could end up paying over £20m for those two players combined.

One position that Rodgers was already covered in during the summer was right-back, however, as Alistair Johnston has been a terrific operator for the Bhoys in recent seasons.

The Canada international has created four ‘big chances’ in six matches in the Scottish Premiership so far this term, after the full-back created 11 ‘big chances’ in 32 outings in the division during the 2023/24 campaign.

Celtic have rarely had problems finding a quality right-back option, certainly in recent years, and another piece of superb recruitment in that position by the club was the signing of Jeremie Frimpong.

How much Celtic paid for Jeremie Frimpong

In the summer of 2019, Hoops boss Neil Lennon swooped to sign the young defender from Premier League giants Manchester City for a reported fee of £300k.

That turned out to be a huge bargain for the Scottish giants because the Dutch full-back went on to be a fantastic player for Celtic, and made the club a significant profit.

Frimpong produced two goals and three assists in 14 matches in the Premiership during his debut season with the club as a teenage talent making his first strides in senior football.

As you can see in the table above, the Dutchman then made 22 appearances during the first half of the next season and caught the eye with 1.5 key passes per game and five ‘big chances’ created.

In January of that campaign, German side Bayer Leverkusen swooped in to sign the defender for a reported fee of £11.5m, which was a huge profit on the £300k that the Hoops had paid for him in 2019.

Frimpong only spent 18 months at the club, from the summer of 2019 to January 2021, but emerged as an attacking right-back option for Lennon and earned Celtic millions by making the move to the Bundesliga.

Since his exit, the 23-year-old star has scored 26 goals and assisted 36 in 151 matches for Leverkusen, whilst Transfermarkt currently value him at £42m.

Things could have been different for Celtic, and Frimpong, though if they had landed one of their other right-back targets in the summer of 2021 – James Justin.

Celtic’s interest in James Justin

The Hoops were looking for a replacement for Mikael Lustig in that summer transfer window and, amazingly, a transfer document was leaked detailing a number of the club’s targets – including the English full-back.

Celtic needed a new right-back and Justin was one of the names on that list of targets, having caught the eye for Luton Town in the 2018/19 campaign.

The 21-year-old star was seen as a replacement for Lustig but the Scottish giants knew it would be a difficult deal to do, as Aston Villa, Leicester City, Stoke City, Fulham, Southampton, and Crystal Palace were all also keen on snapping him up.

He had just been named in the League One Team of the Season for the Hatters and would have arrived at Parkhead as an in-form starlet with the potential to improve.

However, Celtic were unable to win the race for his signature and were, interestingly, beaten to his services by their current manager – Brendan Rodgers – as Leicester signed him for a reported fee of £8m.

One that got away

The transfers that nearly happened but never did. This article is part of Football FanCast’s One That Got Away series.

It was reported that Lee Congerton, who had been his head of recruitment in Glasgow and followed him to the Foxes, recommended the signing of the English right-back, after the pair had left the Hoops to move to the King Power earlier that year.

James Justin’s current market value

At the time of writing (04/10/2024), Transfermarkt currently has Justin’s market value at €15m (£12.5m) and that is significantly less than Frimpong (£42m) is currently worth.

In just over five years with the Foxes, the 26-year-old defender has racked up nine goals and six assists in 134 appearances in all competitions for Leicester.

69 of those appearances to date have come in the Premier League and the ex-Luton star earned himself one cap for England in the summer of 2022.

However, his progress in England was heavily disrupted by two horrible injury blows. The first came when he tore his cruciate ligament in February 2021, which kept him out of action for 331 days and 68 competitive matches.

In November 2022, the full-back, who was described as a “joy to watch” by journalist Josh Bunting, then ruptured his Achilles tendon and was on the sidelines for 204 days and 30 competitive games for the Foxes.

He has battled back from those injury issues, though, and made 39 appearances in the Championship to help Leicester to win the title in the 2023/24 campaign.

As you can see in the table above, Justin has made a strong start to the club’s first season back in the Premier League, with two goals in six games – both coming against Arsenal.

Celtic could look back on him as one that got away, as he was a Premier League star in the making and his value has soared since his move to Leicester, but they could also see it as a lucky escape because they signed Frimpong instead and he went on to make the club millions in profit.

Although, they could have signed both and found a way to fit them both in – as Justin has played 96 games as a left-back in his career – and had two incredibly talented full-back prospects at Parkhead.