Celtic struck gold by selling Parkhead dud who earned more than O’Riley

Brendan Rodgers returned for a second spell at Celtic last year and enjoyed a solid first season back in Glasgow, winning the Scottish Premiership and the SFA Cup.

Despite that success, there was a fair bit of turnover in the squad during the summer transfer window earlier this year as a number of players moved on from Parkhead.

This meant that the Northern Irish head coach needed to dip into the market to bolster his options across the park with new signings. Auston Trusty, Arne Engels, Adam Idah, Paulo Bernardo, and Kasper Schmeichel, among others, all came in.

Celtic were also able to cash in on a few of the fringe players around the squad. Hyeon-gyu Oh, Tomoki Iwata, Mikey Johnston, Saed Haksabanovic, and Yuki Kobayashi were all sold to make way for fresh additions.

Rodgers did, however, lose one of his top players. Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion swooped in to sign Denmark international Matt O’Riley from the Scottish giants.

The Seagulls reportedly splashed out a fee of more than £25m, making it a Scottish record sale, to tempt the Hoops into cashing in on the star, who excelled last season.

How much Matt O’Riley earned at Celtic

As per Salary Sport, the former MK Dons magician was on a weekly wage of £14k for Celtic during the 2023/24 campaign, and the club more than got their money’s worth.

13 players reportedly earned more than O’Riley within the Hoops squad last term and, yet, he ended the season with the club’s Young Player of the Year, Men’s Players’ Player of the Year, and Men’s Player of the Year awards to show for his efforts.

The left-footed sensation earned that recognition by performing at an incredibly high level week-in-week-out for the Premiership champions under Rodgers.

O’Riley produced 18 goals and 13 assists in 37 appearances in the top-flight, whilst creating 14 ‘big chances’ for his teammates and making 2.5 key passes per game.

As you can see in the table above, the Danish wizard significantly improved his goalscoring output under Rodgers, after Ange Postecoglou’s departure last year, whilst retaining his creativity in the middle of the park.

These statistics illustrate how important O’Riley was to Celtic, from an attacking perspective, in his two full seasons at Parkhead, and show how much value they got for just £14k-per-week in wages.

His performances and output on the pitch in respect to his weekly wage were even more impressive when you consider that David Turnbull, who was sold earlier this year, earned even more than him in Glasgow.

How much David Turnbull earned at Celtic

As per Salary Sport, the Scotland international earned £16k-per-week during his time with the club, which was more than O’Riley, Joe Hart, Greg Taylor, Paulo Bernardo, and Liam Scales, among others, earned.

Turnbull spent just shy of four years with the Scottish giants after his move to Parkhead from Premiership rivals Motherwell in the summer of 2020.

In those three-and-a-bit seasons, the playmaker racked up a respectable return of 31 goals and 23 assists in 134 appearances in all competitions, with the bulk of his outings coming as either a number ten or a central midfielder.

However, Turnbull failed to earn a regular starting spot in the second half of his career in Glasgow. In the 2022/23 and 2023/24 campaigns combined, the midfielder only started 15 matches in the Premiership under Rodgers and Postecoglou combined.

As you can see in the table above, the Scottish dud managed four goals and zero assists from 16 matches in the league from open play, whilst losing the majority of his duels out of possession.

This shows that the Bhoys were not getting value for money out of his £16k-per-week wages, as he offered significantly less than O’Riley, on £14k-per-week, did.

Rodgers and Celtic then opted to cash in on the midfielder, whose contract was due to expire in the summer, at the end of the January transfer window and sold him to Cardiff City, which has turned out to be a great decision for the club.

David Turnbull’s declining value in 2024

At the time of his exit from Parkhead, Transfermarkt valued the former Motherwell man at €4m (£3.3m), and that has dropped since his move to Wales.

Turnbull has struggled down south in the Championship and, at the time of writing (25/11/2024), Transfermarkt currently has his market value at €3.8m (£3.1m), which shows that his value has dropped over the past nine months or so.

The 25-year-old dud did not hit the ground running in Wales in the second half of last season. He made 17 appearances and started 11 times in second tier of English football but failed to provide much in the way of quality, with zero goals and one assist for the Blue Birds.

In those 17 games, the Scottish lightweight also lost 56% of his duels and committed a penalty, which means that he directly contributed to as many goals for the opposition as he did for his own team.

As you can see in the table above, Turnbull has also struggled badly in the Championship in the current campaign, with a lack of impact in the final third.

This means that the former Celtic dud has produced one goal and one assist in 27 league outings for Cardiff since his permanent move to the club at the start of February, which is a particularly poor return, especially in comparison to his output during his time in Glasgow.

The right-footed midfielder’s disappointing form in England and his declining market value suggest that Rodgers and the Hoops hit the jackpot when they decided to cash in on him earlier this year, as it has turned out to be a fantastic decision.