More than at most Champions League-level clubs, plenty of players come and go at Celtic, due to the high turnover the Scottish Premiership champions experience in a high portion of summer transfer windows.
This was especially the case during Ange Postecoglou's two-year tenure, with the Australian signing a whopping 29 players during his relatively brief reign.
Ange-postecoglou-celtic-leeds
Now, the player that Graham Falk of the Scotsman ranks as the second-least impactful of all 29 of Postecoglou's signings, has just made a multi-million-pound move across the Atlantic, despite making barely any impression in Glasgow.
Once upon a time, he wanted to follow in the footsteps of the great Virgil van Dijk but that never happened.
Celtic's search for the next Virgil van Dijk
Given what he has gone on to achieve in the game, it's pretty hard to dispute the fact that Van Dijk is Celtic's best centre-back of modern times.
The Dutchman arrived in Glasgow from Groningen for a reported fee of £1.74m in 2013, with then manager Neil Lennon claiming he said to the defender on his first day "enjoy yourself... you won't be here long" as he knew van Dijk was destined for the top.
In total, the Dutchman made 115 appearances for Celtic, winning two Premiership titles and the League Cup, before being sold to Southampton for £11.5m in 2015, with the Hoops also receiving a 10% sell-on fee when he moved to Liverpool for a then world-record £75m in January 2018.
Van-Dijk-Celtic-Mbuyamba-Rodgers
Since, Celtic have simply been searching for the next van Dijk, so here's a selection of all the centre-backs to make 100+ appearances since the Dutchman's departure in August 2015.
Celtic centre-backs 100+ appearances (2015-present)
Players
Šimunović
Boyata
Ajer
Carter-Vickers
All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt
As the table outlines, just four Celtic centre-halves have surpassed 100 appearances since van Dijk's sale, underlining the flux experienced in that position, with defenders such as Carl Starfelt only at the club for a very brief period, while, at the other end of the spectrum, given that Marvin Compper made just one appearance in hoops, his Celtic career is more of an abstract concept.
Meantime, a highly-rated defender, who also appeared only once for the club, that almost every Celtic supporter worldwide will have forgotten about, appears to be getting his career back on track, having just made a big-money move.
Where are they now
Where Are They Now
Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast's Where Are They Now series.
Celtic's forgotten defender now MLS-bound
Osaze Urhoghide was one of Postecoglou's very first signings as Celtic manager, arriving from Sheffield Wednesday for a compensation fee reported to be £200,000.
Upon his arrival, Postecoglou stated he believed the then-21-year-old possessed "all the attributes... to become a top player", describing him as "a modern defender..good athletically" and "quick", with Mark Walker of the Scottish Sun labelling him a 'beast and a monster'.
Despite this high praise, Urhoghide made just one competitive appearance for Celtic, an unused substitute on 17 occasions, this coming in a dead-rubber Europa League group stage game against Real Betis.
Considering this was a player who wanted to emulate Van Dijk in Glasgow, he didn't live up to the immense potential expected of him.
"He [Van Dijk] was at Celtic as well and he is Dutch like I am. I have seen the way he has progressed and the way he behaves and I hope I can emulate that and get to where he is. You want to play at the highest level." - Urhoghide in 2021.
Thus, he then spent the next 18 months on loan at Oostende in Belgium, before being allowed to join Ligue 2 side Amiens on a free transfer in 2023.
Well, he must have done something right during his 41 appearances for les Licornes because, last month, he joined Major League Soccer side FC Dallas for a reported fee of £2.5m, starting all three of the Texas-based club's MLS fixtures so far this season.
That fee may not seem sky-high, but it's certainly noteworthy considering, in their three decades of existence, Dallas have only paid a higher transfer fee for four players, with this the highest fee the club have ever paid for a defender, the previous record the $1m spent to sign Geovane Jesus from Cruzeiro.
It's also noteworthy when you compare it with those still at Parkhead. Indeed, the £2.5m fee puts him above the likes of super-sub Hyun-jun Yang who, in the eyes of Transfermarkt, is rated at £2.1m.
Yang-Celtic-Premiership
So, does this prove Celtic were wrong to sell Urhoghide? No. But does this also prove players' development is not linear, and just because it didn't work out at one club does not mean it can't work out at another? Yes.
kieran-tierney-celtic Related
[Worth more than Tierney: Celtic must regret losing "amazing" star for £0](https://www.footballfancast.com/celtic-must-rue-releasing-hickey-whos-worth-more-than-tierney/ "Worth more than Tierney: Celtic must regret losing "amazing" star for £0")
The former Celtic youngster is now worth even more than Kieran Tierney.