Celtic could have signed £15m defender linked with Tottenham for free 12 months ago

Follow us on Google Discover

A proven, experienced Premier League centre-back with green-and-white blood coursing through his veins? Or a 21-year-old who hadn’t made 50 career appearances for Danish outfit FC Nordsjaelland?

If you asked Celtic supporters who they preferred at the time, who could blame them for choosing Shane Duffy? 

There was no way of knowing how badly the boyhood Celtic supporter would fare at Parkhead even if, with the benefit of hindsight, his old-school, thump-it-into-row-z approach never aligned with the Hoops’ possession-based style. 

With Duffy’s disastrous spell at Celtic coming to a trophy-less end following the drab, depressing 0-0 draw with Hibernian, the prospect of 2020’s ‘one who got away’ completing a big-money move to the Premier League would season those wounds with Himalayan rock salt. 

In May 2020, the Daily Mail reported Celtic were keen on the little-known Abdul Mumin. He was, at the time, available on a free transfer with his contract expiring. 

12 months on, the same player is valued at a lofty £15 million.

Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United are circling too, impressed by the way the 6ft 3in powerhouse has gone from strength to strength since swapping Nordsjaelland for Vitoria Guimaraes (Sun).

With their title gone and the kingdom crumbling, it’s impossible not to look back on recent transfer windows and wonder what might have been.

Silas Wamangituka and Noa Lang, two supremely talented attackers who would set you back about £20 million each these days, could have revolutionised an increasingly sluggish Celtic attack. 

Brendan Rodgers, meanwhile, wanted £15 million England U21 international Noni Madueke at Parkhead before the winger’s bargain switch to PSV.

And it’s hard to imagine the Hoops collapsing against Slavia Prague, conceding three to Aberdeen, suffering  humiliating defeats to Ross County, Ferencvaros and St Mirren if they had a talismanic, totemic centre-half like Mumin dominating at the back. 

The Ghanaian wasn’t the solution to all of Celtic’s problems but he might have solved a few of them – namely, a lack of leadership at the back and a dreadful set-piece record.