Celtic brought Brendan Rodgers back to Parkhead last summer for a second stint in charge of the Glasgow giants after Ange Postecoglou moved down south.
The Hoops then decided to back the Northern Irish head coach in the summer transfer window with nine new first-team signings to bolster the playing squad.
Maik Nawrocki, Hyeok-kyu Kwon, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Odin Thiago Holm, Marco Tilio, Luis Palma, Paulo Bernardo, Nat Phillips, and Hyun-jun Yang were all brought in, with mixed success so far.
Celtic were knocked out of the League Cup in August, dumped out of Europe at the end of the group stages of the Champions League, and are currently two points behind their rivals at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
Their struggles across several competitions suggest that Rodgers’ work in the last transfer window is yet to fully pay off, which has been apparent with the lack of minutes on the pitch for some of his additions.
Lagerbielke, in particular, has been a flop for Celtic so far. The Swedish defender has rinsed the club of millions – earning more than first-team star Palma – without making much of a contribution on the pitch.
How much Celtic paid for Gustaf Lagerbielke
Rodgers swooped to sign the centre-back from IF Elfsborg for a reported fee of around £3m in August of last year, and claimed that the young enforcer was “ready” for the challenge of playing for the Scottish giants.
The 23-year-old titan, who cited former Hoops star Virgil van Dijk as an inspiration at the time of his move, arrived off the back of a strong first half of the year in Sweden.
He caught the eye with his strong defensive performances for the club across 16 appearances in the Allsvenskan during the 2023 campaign.
Lagerbielke made 2.6 tackles and interceptions combined and 6.7 ball recoveries per match respectively, to go along with zero errors that directly led to a shot or goal for the opposition. This suggests that he was a solid operator at the back who regularly cut out attacks without making big mistakes.
The Swedish colossus was also dominant from a physical perspective as he won 59% of his duels in those 16 games, after he won 64% of his battles across 20 league outings throughout the 2022 campaign for Elfsborg.
These statistics suggested that the Hoops had signed a towering defender who could dominate opposition players, with minimal errors, to bolster their backline.
However, it has not quite worked out for him at Parkhead so far this season as the Sweden international has struggled for game time under Rodgers.
Gustaf Lagerbielke’s season in numbers
The 23-year-old gem was an unused substitute for Celtic as they beat Livingston 4-2 in the SFA Cup quarter-finals at home on Sunday, which sums up his season so far.
He has not missed any matchday through injury for the Hoops during the 2023/24 campaign. However, Rodgers has left him out of the matchday squad on 20 occasions in the Premiership.
Lagerbielke has been an unused substitute in the top-flight once and made six league appearances for the Scottish giants in total since his £3m move.
The towering defender only started four of those six Premiership outings but did showcase some of his dominant defensive attributes with an outstanding duel success rate of 71%, along with a ground duel success rate of 87%, yet that was not enough to convince the manager that he deserved more minutes.
| 23/24 Champions League | Gustaf Lagerbielke |
| Appearances | 2 |
| Goals | 1 |
| Ground duel success rate | 50% |
| Penalties committed | 1 |
| Red cards | 1 |
| Stats via Sofascore | |
As you can see in the table above, Lagerbielke also had mixed success in his two appearances against Feyenoord in the group stages of the Champions League.
He gave away a penalty and was sent off on his European debut for the club, and then went on to score the winning goal in his second outing against the Dutch side.
Overall, the Swedish defender has been a waste of a signing so far for Celtic as he has rarely been selected, even as a substitute, when fit to be in the matchday squad, despite earning as much as Matt O’Riley and more than Palma in wages.
Per Salary Sport, Lagerbielke is currently on £14k-per-week – more than Palma’s £6k-per-week, Liam Scales’ £5k-per-week, and Maik Nawrocki’s £12k-per-week to name a few – and this means that he has earned over £400k in 30 weeks at the club so far.
The Hoops have, therefore, been rinsed of £3.4m – and counting – for a player who has not been deemed good enough to make the bench when all of his positional peers are available, and it is a situation that may need looking at in the upcoming summer transfer window if the state of play does not change.
Luis Palma’s stats this season
Lagerbielke’s £14k-per-week looks to be a waste of funds on paper when you consider the impact that Palma, who is on £6k-per-week, has made on the pitch this season.
The Honduras international, who arrived from Aris for a reported fee of £3.5m, has provided a big threat in the final third as a scorer and a creator of goals for the Bhoys.
He has chipped in with six goals in 17 starts in the Premiership to go along with two goals in four starts in the group stages of the Champions League.
His creativity, however, has been the most impressive aspect of his forward player for Rodgers on the left wing since his move to Scotland last summer.
| 23/24 Premiership | Luis Palma |
| Appearances | 23 |
| Starts | 17 |
| Assists | 9 |
| Big chances created | 12 |
| Key passes per game | 2.7 |
| Stats via Sofascore | |
As you can see in the table above, the 24-year-old whiz has been in fine form as a creator for his side with a staggering 12 ‘big chances’ created in just 17 league starts.
Overall, Palma has contributed with six goals and nine assists – 15 direct goal contributions – in those 17 Premiership starts, which shows that he has consistently provided quality at the top end of the pitch for Celtic.
These statistics suggest that the impressive dynamo has been a value-for-money signing as he has made a big impact on the pitch and featured regularly in the team.
This further highlights how much of a flop Lagerbielke has been, as the Swedish defender has barely got onto the field, let alone made significant contributions to success on the pitch, despite earning over twice as much per week in comparison to Palma.
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