GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - SEPTEMBER 01: Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers at full time during a William Hill Premiership match between Celtic and Rangers at Celtic Park, on September 01, 2024, in Glasgow, Scotland. (Photo by Rob Casey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Celtic were incredibly busy on the deadline day of the recently closed summer transfer window as they made three new additions to the first-team squad.
The Hoops moved to add central defender Auston Trusty and midfielders Luke McCowan and Arne Engels to the group to bolster Brendan Rodgers’ options across the park.
A reported fee of £6m was agreed with Sheffield United to sign Trusty, who will now compete with Liam Scales and Cameron Carter-Vickers for a starting spot.
Celtic once spent a similar fee on a central defender who went on to struggle throughout his five years at Parkhead – Croatian titan Jozo Simunovic.
How much Celtic paid for Jozo Simunovic
In the summer of 2015, the Scottish giants splashed out a reported fee of £5.5m to sign the centre-back from Dinamo Zagreb, as they looked to replace Virgil van Dijk after his £13m move to Premier League side Southampton.
Simunovic arrived at Parkhead after making 75 first-team appearances for Dinamo Zagreb, scoring three goals, as a promising young defensive talent.
The Croatian-born starlet was tipped for great things by former Hoops full-back Tosh McKinlay, who claimed that the youngster was “Rolls Royce material” and “different class”.
Simunovic did make 36 appearances in the Scottish Premiership in his first two years with the club, helping Celtic to win the title in both campaigns, but he then went on to play just 33 more times in the division in the following three seasons combined.
What happened to Jozo Simunovic
The towering defender suffered a staggering 12 injuries during his five-year stint in Glasgow and that kept him out of action for 132 games for club and country in all competitions.
His consistent fitness issues meant that the centre-back ended his Celtic career with 126 matches under his belt in five years, before his release in 2020.
The Hoops allowed him to move on for nothing at the end of his contract in the summer of 2020 and Simunovic spent a year out of the game before he decided to join HNK Gorica in his home country.
As you can see in the table above, the Croatian titan was dominant in his aerial duels and did not make any significant errors in his eight appearances for Gorica.
However, those were the only eight games he featured in during the 2021/22 campaign and the club opted to release him in the summer of 2022, making him a free agent.
Two years on, Simunovic, 30, is still a free agent and has not played professional football since those eight outings in the HNL. However, he has not officially retired from football.
In April of last year, the former Hoops man revealed that he is at university studying sports management and is doing his badges, to prepare for a career after his playing days are over, if they are not already.
There has been no update on his situation since then, with no new club to play for, and it appears as though his studies are his main focus in the present day.
Hopefully, Simunovic will find a suitable role for him within the footballing world, whether that is on the pitch, off the pitch, or behind the scenes.
