Celtic waved goodbye to a fan favourite during the January transfer window when they decided to cash in on Japanese centre-forward Kyogo Furuhashi.
The Hoops, who also brought a fan favourite back to Parkhead in Portuguese winger Jota, cashed in on the Japan international amid interest from Ligue 1 side Rennes.
Celtic reportedly raked in a fee of £10m for the experienced number nine, a few months on from Manchester City’s reported interest in his services last summer, leaving Brendan Rodgers with Adam Idah as his only natural, senior, striker.
The Scottish Premiership champions hit the jackpot with their sale of Kyogo when you consider how much they paid for him back in the summer of 2021.
Celtic hit gold with Kyogo Furuhashi
Ange Postecoglou swooped to sign the striker from Vissel Kobe for a reported fee of £4.6m ahead of the 2021/22 campaign and he scored 20 goals in all competitions during his debut season.
As you can see in the clips above, Kyogo went on to score 34 goals in all competitions in the 2022/23 campaign under the Australian head coach.
By the time he completed his move to Rennes earlier this year, the 30-year-old forward had scored 85 goals in 165 matches for the club – a terrific return from a superb player who also made the Hoops millions in profit by moving to France for £5.4m more than what they paid Vissel Kobe for him.
He is far from the only striker Celtic have struck gold with over the years, however, and Moussa Dembele is one star who was sold for even more than the Japan international.
Celtic’s Moussa Dembele masterclass
The Scottish giants took advantage of the striker’s contract with Fulham running out and signed him for a compensation fee of £500k in the summer of 2016.
It is fair to say that the French marksman hit the ground running at Parkhead. He ended the 2016/17 campaign with a return of 32 goals and nine assists in 49 appearances, 12 more goals than Kyogo managed in his first year in Glasgow.
The Hoops star followed that up with 16 goals and nine assists in 39 appearances in the following season, including one goal in four Champions League outings.
Despite his drop in form, Ligue 1 side Lyon swooped in to sign the French centre-forward from the Premiership giants for a reported fee of £19.7m – £9.7m more than Rennes have paid for Kyogo.
As you can see in the table above, Dembele became the most expensive striker in Celtic history when he completed that move, and that has yet to change in the seven years since that deal.
The Hoops hit the jackpot with the former Fulham man because his value soared by a staggering 3,840% from £500k to £19.7m, despite him only being at Parkhead for two years.
This shows that Celtic played a masterclass with the Frenchman because they plucked him out of England for a modest compensation fee and made a mind-blowing profit on him, whilst also getting excellent performances out of him on the pitch, after two seasons.
The 28-year-old ace went on to score 70 goals in 172 matches for Lyon in all competitions before his move to Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia, where he has scored 21 goals in 47 games to date.
