BREAKING NEWS: Cost £1.2m: Celtic hit jackpot by selling 6ft 4 star who’d be worth £39m in 2024 money

Celtic were in the market to land a new centre-forward to bolster their options at the top end of the pitch during the recent January transfer window.

Brendan Rodgers eventually landed Norwich City marksman Adam Idah on loan on deadline day, with no options to buy, after having been linked with a move for Bologna striker Sydney van Hooijdonk, who went on to sign for the Canaries to replace the player the Hoops signed.

idah-celtic-premiership-rodgers

The Dutch number nine is the son of former Bhoys sensation Pierre van Hooijdonk, who the club hit the jackpot with during his time at Parkhead.

Celtic struck gold when they swooped to sign the attacker from Dutch side NAC Breda in January 1995 to improve then-manager Tommy Burns’ attacking options.

How much Celtic paid for Pierre van Hooijdonk

The Hoops signed the Netherlands international for a reported fee of £1.2m and the impressive marksman produced four goals in 14 Scottish Premiership matches.

Van Hooijdonk followed that up with a staggering 26 goals in 34 Premiership matches during the 1995/96 campaign, to take his tally to 30 league goals in his first 18 months at the club.

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The then-26-year-old fired in 14 goals in 21 league appearances for the Scottish giants during the first half of the 1996/97 campaign before a move to Nottingham Forest in March 1997.

In total, the 6 foot 4 colossus moved on from Celtic with a fantastic return of 52 goals in 84 games in all competitions, which is a goal every 1.62 matches on average across his just-over two-year spell in Glasgow.

How much did Celtic sell Pierre van Hooijdonk for in 2024 money

Per Totally Money, Premier League side Nottingham Forest splashed out a fee of £5.4m at the time of the deal to bring him down south to England in 1997.

Adjusting for the inflation of transfer fees in football over the subsequent years, per Totally Money’s index, that £5.4m fee would be worth a staggering £39.4m, which illustrates how much of a blinder the Hoops played with the signing of van Hooijdonk back in 1995.

They struck gold with the prolific marksman as they made a healthy profit on the 52-goal forward, who was a star on the pitch and made them a huge sum of money by the time he moved on from Parkhead.

Nottingham Forest career
Pierre van Hooijdonk Appearances Goals Assists
1996/97 (Premier League) 8 1 0
1997/98 (First Division) 39 29 0
1998/99 (Premier League) 21 6 2
Stats via Transfermarkt

As you can see in the table above, van Hooijdonk failed to replicate his goalscoring prowess in Scotland in the Premier League with the Tricky Trees, with a return of seven goals in 29 games in the English top-flight.

The Netherlands international went on to enjoy spells with Benfica, Vitesse, Fenerbahce, and Feyenoord after his time with Forest, before his retirement in the summer of 2007.

Overall, Celtic hit the jackpot with van Hooijdonk as they got immense value out of him on and off the pitch after his £1.2m move from NAC Breda back in 1995, and it remains to be seen whether Sydney – now at Norwich – will be able to hit the same heights as his father during his career.

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