Celtic hit gold with "magnificent" star who’d be worth £20m in 2024 money

Celtic attacking midfielder Matt O'Riley collected multiple trophies at the club's end-of-season awards night at the weekend after a sublime season from the star.

He won the Young Player of the Year, Men's Player of the Year, and Men's Players' Player of the Year awards for his contributions on the pitch this term.

It will now be interesting to see whether or not the Hoops can keep hold of the Denmark international, who was recently named as a player of interest to Italian giants Inter.

Celtic midfielder Matt O'Riley.

The Bhoys have made a profit on a number of players, who O'Riley could join this summer, over the years and one star they hit the jackpot with was goalkeeper Fraser Forster.

How much Celtic paid for Fraser Forster

The towering stopper initially joined the Hoops on loan from English Premier League side Newcastle United in the summer of 2010 and spent two seasons on loan from the Magpies.

In the summer of 2012, Celtic completed a reported £2m deal to sign the goalkeeper on a permanent deal from the English team, and then-manager Neil Lennon claimed that he would be a "magnificent" signing for the club.

Appearances

36

33

Minutes played

3,240

2,962

Goals conceded

22

20

Clean sheets

21

21

As you can see in the table above, his form over his two seasons on loan with the Scottish giants warranted them making a move to sign him permanently.

He caught the eye with a staggering 42 clean sheets in 69 appearances in the Scottish Premiership, conceding just 42 goals for the club in that time.

How much Celtic sold Fraser Forster for in 2024 money

After two more years with the Hoops, Forster's performances in Scotland were impressive enough to draw in interest from Premier League side Southampton.

When you adjust for the inflation of transfer fees in football over the subsequent years, per Totally Money's index, then the £11.2m the Saints paid to sign him in the summer of 2014 would be worth a staggering £20.2m in today's (2024) money.

This shows that Celtic hit the jackpot with Forster as they made a significant profit on the initial £2m they paid Newcastle to sign him, making £9.2m, and the fee they raked in from Southampton would be worth a huge £20.2m in the current day, which speaks to how expensive the deal was at the time.

Fraser Forster for Tottenham

The England international, who now plays for Tottenham Hotspur, later enjoyed another season on loan with the Hoops, from the Saints, during the 2019/20 campaign and has racked up 118 clean sheets in 234 appearances for the club in all competitions to date.

Forster was, as shown by the aforementioned statistics, a clean sheet machine for the Scottish giants with more than one shutout every other match on average.

Celtic's "pressing machine" was as good as O'Riley in the Old Firm

The Hoops star was unplayable for Brendan Rodgers against Rangers on Sunday.

ByDan Emery

He was a colossal performer on the pitch, winning eight domestic trophies in total, and then made the Hoops a huge sum of money just two years after being signed for only £2m, which illustrates how much of a blinder they played with the titan.

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