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.

Two points behind its rivals at the top of the Scottish Premiership, Celtic was eliminated in August from both the League Cup and the group stages of the Champions League. They were driven out of Europe as well.

The fact that several of Rodgers’ purchases have not received much playing time suggests that his efforts during the previous transfer window have not yet fully paid off, given their struggles in numerous competitions.

In particular, Lagerbielke hasn’t performed well for Celtic in the past. The Swedish defence has embezzled millions of euros from the team without making a significant contribution to the match, earning more money than Palma, a star player in the starting lineup.

Gustaf Lagerbielke’s acquisition price from Celtic

In August of last year, Rodgers swooped to claim the young enforcer was “ready” for the challenge of playing for the Scottish powerhouses, and he did so for a reported £3 million from IF Elfsborg.

The 23-year-old behemoth signed on after Sweden’s season began well in the first half. He mentioned former Hoops player Virgil van Dijk as an inspiration when he signed.

Throughout his 16 Allsvenskan matches for the team in 2023, he drew attention with his potent defensive efforts.

Lagerbielke made 2.6 tackles, interceptions combined, and 6.7 ball recoveries per game; he also committed no mistakes that allowed the opposition to score a goal or attempt. This implies that he was a reliable back-man who consistently finished off attacks without making significant errors.

The Swedish monster proved to be physically dominant as well, winning 59% of his duels in those 16 games after winning 64% of his fights in 20 league games for Elfsborg in 2022.

These numbers implied that the Hoops had strengthened their backline by acquiring a towering defender who could overpower opponents with few mistakes.

Nevertheless, so far this season, things have not gone as planned for him at Parkhead, as the Sweden international has had difficulty getting into the starting lineup under Rodgers.

The stats from Gustaf Lagerbielke’s season

The 23-year-old gem’s season thus far was summed up on Sunday as Celtic defeated Livingston 4-2 at home in the SFA Cup quarterfinals. He was not utilised as a substitute.

He has not missed a single game for the Hoops in 2023–2024 due to injury. Nonetheless, Rodgers has excluded him from the matchday roster in the Premier League on 20 separate occasions.

Since joining the Scottish powerhouse for £3 million, Lagerbielke has made a total of six league games and has only been used as a substitute in the top level once.

Despite displaying some of his dominant defensive qualities with an exceptional duel success rate of 71% and a ground duel success rate of 87%, the towering defender only started four of those six Premiership games. Despite this, the manager was not persuaded that he should have played more minutes.

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, despite earning more money than Palma and as much as Matt O’Riley, the Swedish defender has been a waste of a deal for Celtic thus far because he is rarely chosen for the matchday squad, not even as a substitute.

Lagerbielke is presently paid £14,000 per week by Salary Sport, which is more than Palma’s £6,000 per week, Liam Scales’ £5k per week, and Maik Nawrocki’s £12,000 per week, to mention a few. This indicates that he has made almost £400k in his first thirty weeks at the club.

As a result, the Hoops have lost £3.4 million and counting for a player who isn’t considered good enough to start on the bench when all of his positional peers are available. If the situation doesn’t improve, it might need to be looked at during the next summer transfer window.

This season’s stats for Luis Palma

When you take into account the influence that Palma, who makes £6k per week, has had on the pitch this season, Lagerbielke’s £14k per week appears to be a waste of money on paper.

The Honduran international, who cost an estimated £3.5 million to sign from Aris, has given the Bhoys a serious danger in the closing stages as a goal scorer and creator.

In addition to his two goals in four Champions League group stage starts, he has contributed six goals in 17 Premiership games.

But since moving to Scotland last summer, his inventiveness has been the most striking feature of his offensive performance for Rodgers on the left wing.

The 24-year-old wizard has been producing incredible “big chances” for his team, as you can see in the table above, with just 17 league starts under his belt.

In those 17 Premiership games, Palma has delivered a total of six goals and nine assists (15 direct goal contributions), demonstrating his constant quality play at the top end of the pitch for Celtic.

These numbers indicate that the dynamic player has been a value-for-money addition, since he has contributed significantly to the team’s performance and appearances on the pitch.

This serves as even more evidence of what a complete failure Lagerbielke has been; despite making more than twice as much per week as Palma, the Swedish defender has hardly made an appearance on the pitch, much less contributed significantly to team success.