Celtic have been fairly busy in the summer transfer window as they look to improve their squad ahead of the 2025/26 campaign getting underway next month.
However, there have not been many big splashes in the market for Brendan Rodgers and his side, as the £2m deal to sign Benjamin Nygren is the most they have spent on one player so far.
The Hoops have brought in Kieran Tierney, Ross Doohan, and Callum Osmand on free transfers, and brought in Shin Yamada and Hayato Inamura in from Japan alongside the move for Nygren.
Celtic may have more work to do yet in the transfer market, potentially with bigger deals made to improve the team, after they were hammered 5-1 by Ajax in their most recent pre-season friendly.
After the match, Rodgers claimed that Celtic need to improve the squad if they really want to be ambitious and progress as a club, which shows what he thinks about what needs to happen in the coming weeks.
You do not just need to bring in big-money players from abroad to significantly improve the squad, though, as the Hoops have had success in the domestic market in the past, perhaps most notably with Scott Brown.
Celtic hit the jackpot with Scott Brown
The Scottish Premiership giants hit the jackpot with the central midfielder because they snapped him up from one of their league rivals and he went on to be a legend for the club.
Celtic reportedly paid a fee of around £4.4m to sign the midfield star from Hibernian in the summer of 2007, and that remains the biggest deal between two Scottish teams in history.
It was a deal that turned out to be well worth the money for the Bhoys, though, as Brown went on to play a staggering 618 matches for the club in all competitions, scoring 46 goals and providing 63 assists from the middle of the park.
The former Celtic captain won ten Scottish Premiership titles and 12 domestic cups in his time at Parkhead, whilst he also won the Player of the Year in the league in both 2009 and 2018, which shows that the midfielder enjoyed an incredibly successful time on the pitch.
Celtic struck gold by splashing the cash on the Scotland international because they were signing a young player who had already proven his quality in the division with Hibernian, which meant that he was able to hit the ground running as a proven star.
He did not need any time to adapt to the league or the country, and that made Brown a fantastic short-term signing, which then laid the foundation for him to go on to be a phenomenal long-term signing for the Scottish giants.
The Scottish star was not a player who was then sold on for millions in profit but they more than made back the money they spent on him through the trophies that he helped the team to win over the years.
Celtic have long-term interest in Premiership star
The Premiership champions could repeat their Scott Brown masterclass by splashing the cash on another midfielder from a fellow Scottish team this summer.
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According to The Scottish Sun, Celtic are long-term admirers of Motherwell central midfielder Lennon Miller, who looks set to be on the move in the coming weeks.
The report claims that Serie A side Udinese are leading the race to land the Scotland international’s signature, as they are preparing a fresh bid to sign him.
It adds that Bologna and unnamed clubs from Germany are also interested in signing the 18-year-old starlet, and it is said that a move abroad currently appeals to the player.
The Scottish Sun claims that he has a price tag of £5m, which means that the Hoops will need to break the Scottish record that was set by the £4.4m move for Brown if they are to beat the likes of Udinese and Bologna to his services this summer.
Why Celtic should sign Lennon Miller
Celtic must push to convince Miller to turn down interest from clubs abroad to complete a Scottish record transfer for £5m this summer because he could be a fantastic addition to their squad.
The Scotland international turns 19 in August and this means that the Hoops would be signing a central midfielder who has plenty of time left ahead of him to replicate the kind of success Brown had at Parkhead.
Whilst he may not go on to play over 600 matches for Celtic, as the club’s model is to develop and then sell players, Miller could still enjoy a lengthy career in Glasgow before potentially moving on in the future.
As Brown did when he arrived from Hibernian, the teenage central midfield star could hit the ground running at Parkhead as a player who has already proven his quality in the Premiership, after an impressive 2024/25 campaign that led to him earning a senior Scotland call up.
Tackle success rate
68%
Top 28%
Duels won
5.84
Top 36%
Duel success rate
53%
Top 31%
Interceptions
1.38
Top 14%
Ball recoveries
6.52
Top 10%
Blocks
0.48
Top 28%
As you can see in the table above, Miller was among the best in his position in the Premiership when it came to making defensive interventions last season, ranking highly in a host of key defensive metrics.
To go along with his excellent work out of possession, the £5m-rated star also scored two goals and provided eight assists from the middle of the park, which shows that the youngster can offer a threat at the top end of the pitch as well as being combative and effective off the ball.
These statistics show that Miller, who has been hailed as “ridiculous” by pundit James McFadden, is a fantastic box-to-box player who has the potential to impact games by contributing in and out of possession in the Premiership, much like Brown did during his time as a player in Glasgow.
At the age of 18, the Scottish maestro also has plenty of time to grow and develop as a player, which means that Celtic would be signing him for the future as well as for the here and now.
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Therefore, the Hoops could repeat the masterclass they played with Brown by paying £5m to sign a proven Premiership star and fantastic young talent this summer.