Nicolas Kuhn’s exit could become Celtic’s summer headache

Robin Bairner

• 20 Mar 2026 13:01 CDT
• 4 min read

News

When Nicolas Kuhn left Celtic to sign for Como, he became one of the club’s most expensive sales in history.

The German departed Glasgow for €19 million in Scottish football’s biggest exchange of the summer, but it’s a move that’s not worked out.

Kuhn has started on six Serie A matches all season Como, and he has been glued to the bench since being hauled off at half-time by Cesc Fabregas during a clash against Fiorentina on Valentine’s Day. According to the Glasgow Times, he has already been earmarked to leave in the summer.

Kuhn struggles send the wrong message

Celtic may have sold Kuhn, but that does not mean his lack of performance is no longer a problem for the club.

Instead, teams around Europe will be using his displays as a barometer for how other players from the Glasgow giants may perform if they were signed in the summer.

Kuhn does not stand alone in this regard. Matt O’Riley has failed to shine at Brighton, Jota flopped in the Saudi Pro League before returning for a cut-price figure, and Kyogo Furuhashi’s level at Rennes was little short of abysmal.

Each of the players sold by Celtic for €12m or more in the last three years has gone on to fail.

Celtic’s negotiating position made more difficult

In turn, this weakens Celtic’s negotiating position when it comes to getting maximum value for potential big-money sales this summer.

Arne Engels is one player, in particular, who will be studied. The Belgian arrived in August 2024 in a €13m deal from Augsburg and had been linked with a €29m (£25m) switch to Nottingham Forest in January, with multiple bids rejected.

“For here, that's an awful lot of money,” manager Martin O’Neill commented in February. “Personally, I'm delighted that the board turned it down.

“It's really tempting and it's come at a very late stage, I must admit, so real great credit to them.

“Arne didn't kick up a fuss about it either. We can look at things again in the summer but obviously that was a major statement.”

The January window, though, is notorious for players moving at inflated fees, so while Celtic’s logic for rejecting the offer – lack of time to find a replacement being the key issue – the likelihood of another such offer arriving is diminishing.

Engels’ value is dropping

Engels is a player whose progress has stalled over the course of the last year, according to data analytics experts SciSports.

It reports there has been a “significant decline” in the performance of the 22-year-old over the course of the last six months, and while he still has the potential to play for a top club in the Premier League, this has coincided with his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) plummeting to €10.8m having once been as high as €19m.

Selling Engels for top dollar in January would have been an easy option for Celtic, matching that price again in the summer will not be straightforward - and Kuhn’s struggles in Italy are not helping matters.

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