Celtic have made a few decisions this season that haven’t aged well.
It’s fair to say history won’t look too fondly on the re-signing of Shane Duffy, the release of Craig Gordon or that ill-advised trip to Dubai.
However, when we look back a few years from now, Celtic’s reluctance to pay the £6 million Lyon wanted for young Amine Gouiri could prove the biggest blunder of them all.
According to Le Progres, the Glasgow giants decided against paying a seven-figure sum for the France U21 star during last summer’s transfer window.
Given Gouri had only seven Ligue 1 appearances under his belt at the time, you can see why Celtic had reservations about making an unproven teenager one of their most expensive signings of all time.
Then again, that tactic didn’t work out too badly with Odsonne Edouard. Moussa Dembele, meanwhile, arrived for £500,000 and left two years later for £20 million.
And, since swapping Lyon for Nice, Gouiri has not only scored 11 times in 27 games, equalling Kylian Mbappe’s European record along the way, he has overtaken Edouard as the most exciting French forward in the game today.
As he put the finishing touches on a 3-0 win over Angers with a ruthless, first-time finish on Sunday, it was impossible not to be reminded of another Gallic goalscorer who rose through the ranks in Lyon’s feted youth academy.
It remains to be seen whether the ‘new Karim Benzema’ tag sticks.
But, like Real Madrid’s evergreen number nine, Gouiri is a striker who’s as skilful as he is efficient, wriggling away from defenders with a shimmy and a shuffle before finishing in style.
If reports are to be believed, Los Blancos themselves have taken a keen interest.
With all due respect, Celtic have become something of a stepping-stone club; a footballing finishing school where the likes of Dembele and Edouard hone their talent before moving up the ladder.
With some of Europe’s biggest clubs watching Gouiri closely, has the so-called ‘new Benzema’ just cut out the middle-man?
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