ALTHOUGH 15 MILLION IS CHEAP FOR NICHOLAS KUHN, CELTIC KNOW THE PRICE OF KEEPING AN UNHAPPY PLAYER
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- 15 minutes ago
- 3 min read
“He’s not kicked a ball since Bayern!”
“He’s mentally chucked it!”
“His mind is already elsewhere”
I’ve seen these comments dozens of times over the last few months, all regarding the same Celtic player, our German winger, Nicholas Kuhn.
It’s a far cry from the end of 2024, when he was in electrifying form, and seemed a nailed-on certainty for the player of the year award.
Personally, I think all of the above comments are a bit of an exaggeration, but there’s no denying Nicholas Kuhn has been but a shadow of the Celtic player he was at the start of the season for several months now.
RB Leipzig May Appeal More to Nicholas Kuhn, Celtic Offer Trophy Chances
So, it seems that RB Leipzig, one of Kuhn’s former clubs now want to take him back to Germany.
The fee being suggested is 15 million pounds. However, several pundits, including the always frank and honest Chris Sutton, feel that Celtic would be very lucky to get that much.
For me, there are two variables in this equation that should decide whether we keep Nicholas Kuhn or let him move back to Germany.
First of all, what caused his obvious drop-off in his contribution to the team towards the end of the season. Is there some reason we don’t know about? An illness, a mental issue, a falling out with team-mates?
Or was it just one of those losses of form which wingers in particular are often susceptible to?
If it’s the latter then one would hope that Kuhn is determined to stay and put things right in pre-season and show us that he can still reach those highs of last year on the pitch.
However, if it’s any of the former issues, then it’s probably better for both Nicholas Kuhn and Celtic if he moves on this summer.
As for the fee, we know that, on his game, Kuhn is worth more than 15 million. However, that lack of consistency is the key issue here. We bought him for 3 million.
If we can get back 5 times our money for a player who, if we’re being brutally honest, gave us about 6 months of top-class performance over his 18-month spell at Celtic, then that’s good business, no matter how you look at it.
It’s just a shame that it’s a team from Germany rather than a team from England that seem to want Kuhn.
Such is the ridiculous levels of greed and wealth in English football, that we all know players far less capable than Nicholas Kuhn will make moves there for fees well in excess or 20, possibly even 30 million this summer.
The Germans however, are, for the most part, far more pragmatic, and realistic about their player valuations. So, the “EPL tax” as some call it, won’t apply here.
At the end of the day, we’ve seen the damage that can be done by keeping players who, for whatever reason, no longer want to be at Celtic. We also saw, with Kyogo last season, that once a player makes it known he wants out, Brendan Rodgers isn’t the type to keep them around any longer than necessary.
The arrival of Benjamin Nygren offers someone who can step in immediately and replace Kuhn, however, I would Celtic already planned to bring him in regardless of Kuhn’s situation.
We always knew that we were likely to lose at least one first team regular this summer, as is usually the case every year.
However, if you said to me right now that we could sell Nicholas Kuhn, but keep Daizen Maeda, Reo Hatate and Cameron Carter-Vickers, I’d be delighted.
Of those four, the players regarded as most likely to attract interest from elsewhere this summer, Kuhn is most expendable of them, and that’s no disrespect to him. Maeda, Hatate and Carter-Vickers are integral to our ongoing success, I believe. The reality is, Nicholas Kuhn isn’t.
I’d prefer he stay, of course. After all, we don’t want to lose any quality players. However, if the player wants to go, and Celtic can make a decent profit on the move, then so be it.