Celtic could sign £11m star who'd be their best striker since Edouard

Celtic centre-forward Adam Idah added another goal to his tally for the season in the 1-1 draw with the club’s city rivals away from home in the Scottish Premiership last time out.

The Ireland international has now scored 18 goals in all competitions for the Hoops in his first full season at the club, following his permanent move from Norwich City last summer.

Idah may, however, hope to earn more minutes in the Premiership under Brendan Rodgers next term, because he has only started 17 of his 32 appearances in the division so far this year.

He has found himself behind Daizen Maeda in the pecking order at times, whilst he was often behind Kyogo Furuhashi in the first half of the 2024/25 campaign.

That was before the Japan international left to sign for Rennes in the January transfer window for a reported fee of £10m, leaving Maeda and Idah to battle it out for a starting spot.

Celtic will be hoping that Idah becomes a success and fulfills his potential at Parkhead as they look for their best centre-forward signing since Odsonne Edouard.

Celtic’s top scorers since Odsonne Edouard left

The Scottish giants smashed their transfer record to sign the French centre-forward from Paris Saint-Germain for a reported fee of £9m in the summer of 2018, after an initial loan spell at Parkhead.

Edouard went on to score at least 22 goals in each of his three full seasons as a permanent Celtic star, which shows that he provided a consistent threat at the top end of the pitch.

After those three seasons, the 23-year-old was snapped up by Premier League side Crystal Palace in a reported deal that could rise to £18.5m, which meant that the Bhoys more than doubled their money on the striker, and it is a transfer that ranks as the fifth-highest sale in the club’s history, as per Transfermarkt.

Since Edouard moved down south in the summer of 2021, Kyogo, Idah, and Maeda have all had turns at being the main man at the top end of the pitch for goals.

As you can see in the table above, Kyogo only scored more than 20 goals in one of his three full seasons at Parkhead before his £10m move to Rennes, which shows that he was not as consistent as Edouard, and he was sold for £8.5m less.

Maeda, meanwhile, scored just 14 goals in his first two Premiership seasons at the club before the current campaign, so he is yet to prove that his current goalscoring exploits are more than a flash in the pan.

Therefore, Celtic have not made a better striker signing than Edouard since the Frenchman’s departure, both for footballing and financial reasons, but they do have the chance to rectify that in the upcoming summer transfer window.

Celtic’s told how much to pay for striker target

According to reports in Denmark, via GlasgowWorld, Brondby are set to demand a record fee of £11.4m to allow Mathias Kvistgaarden to move on in the summer.

That would also make the centre-forward a club-record signing for the Hoops, as well as a club-record sale for Brondby, after they broke their record with an £11m move for Arne Engels from Augsburg last year.

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Football Insider reported earlier this year that the Hoops are planning to make a move for the Danish centre-forward in the summer transfer window in an attempt to bolster their options at the top end of the pitch.

The outlet added that the 23-year-old marksman is a long-term target for the Scottish giants, and that they are eyeing him up ahead of next season.

With this in mind, Celtic could land their best centre-forward signing since Edouard by pushing ahead with a deal for the young Brondby sensation in the coming months.

Why Kvistgaarden could be Celtic’s best centre-forward signing since Edouard

Firstly, Kvistgaarden would come in as a young player with the potential to improve and grow in value throughout his time at Parkhead, which means that they could make a significant profit on him in the future.

Whereas Kyogo left to sign for Rennes at the age of 30 in January, which may have been why his transfer fee was £10m, rather than being closer to Edouard’s £18.5m move to Palace.

This means that Kvistgaarden would have more potential to be sold on for big money in the future than Kyogo ever had, simply because he is seven years younger than the Japanese ace.

The £11.4m-rated star, who was hailed as “absolutely sensational” by U23 scout Antonio Mango earlier this term, also has the goalscoring pedigree to potentially offer more than the Japan international did in the final third.

As you can see in the table above, Kvistgaarden has scored 22 goals in all competitions for Brondby this term, which is more than Kyogo managed in two of his three full seasons in Glasgow.

This suggests that the potential is there for the Danish star to offer even more than the Rennes striker did during his time at Parkhead, if he can carry that form over to Scottish football and deliver consistently in the final third.

Kvistgaarden, who scored 31 goals and provided 11 assists in 45 matches for Brondby at U19 level, has shown that he can be lethal in front of goal on a regular basis, particularly at league level with 16 goals in 23 Superliga starts.

The Celtic transfer target could, therefore, be the club’s best centre-forward signing since Edouard because he has the age profile, the potential, and the goalscoring pedigree to be even better for the Hoops than Kyogo as a goalscorer and as a future asset.

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It is now down to Celtic’s board to back Rodgers in the transfer market by splashing the cash to sign a high-quality striker in a club-record swoop for Kvistgaarden in the upcoming summer transfer window to bolster their options in the final third.