Celtic may have got a lucky escape deciding against the signing of Sardar Azmoun from Russian Premier League side Rubin Kazan in the summer.
It’s now 16 years since Celtic paid a club-record £6 million for a Coventry City striker by the name of John Hartson (BBC). No one has exceeded that fee since though, according to the Scottish Sun, Celtic would have had to make history if they wanted to sign Rubin Kazan striker Sardar Azmoun in the summer.
The report claimed in August that Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers wanted another striker in the final few weeks of the transfer window and had identified the ‘Iranian Ibrahimovic’ as a potential target.
With Rubin demanding £10 million, however, Azmoun would have been far more expensive than Hoops’ legend Hartson.
Looking at his form this season, however, Azmoun has a long way to go to justify such a price-tag. The 22-year-old has not scored a single goal in 12 Russian Premier League appearances in 2017/18 – his worst domestic run since a loan spell at FC Rostov in 2014/15.
Azmoun may have shot to fame with goals against Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid for Rostov in last season’s Champions League but he is far from a prolific goalscorer in the bread and butter of domestic football.
In total, the Iranian international has just 23 goals in 89 games in the Russian top flight since arriving from Iranian football back in 2012.
And while Odsonne Edouard, the striker who did move to Parkhead after links with Azmoun came to nothing, is yet to make a real impact, at least he didn’t set Celtic back £10 million.
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