It was a busy deadline day for Celtic on Friday as they completed three new signings to bolster their squad before the end of the summer transfer window.
Brendan Rodgers dipped into the market to bring in two new central midfielders following Matt O'Riley's move to Brighton & Hove Albion, with Arne Engels and Luke McCowan coming in from Augsburg and Dundee respectively.
The Northern Irish head coach also swooped to bring in USA international Auston Trusty from Sheffield United on a permanent basis to strengthen his defensive unit.
His arrival could push Maik Nawrocki further down the pecking order at Parkhead and the deal to sign the Polish defender is looking more and more like a blunder with each passing week.
How much Celtic paid for Maik Nawrocki
In the summer of 2023, Celtic moved to sign the central defender from Legia Warsaw for a reported fee of £4.3m in an attempt to replace Carl Starfelt.
The 23-year-old colossus was brought in to, hopefully, play alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers at the heart of the Hoops defence, given the significant fee they paid for him.
Instead, Nawrocki made just 13 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish giants during the 2023/24 campaign, despite only missing seven games through injury.
The Polish flop did suffer an injury in pre-season this summer, though, that has led to his absence so far this term, with zero minutes played in the 2024/25 campaign.
Whilst there is still time for him to redeem himself in a Hoops shirt, the arrival of Trusty suggests that Rodgers does not envisage a role for Nawrocki moving forward, with Carter-Vickers and Liam Scales ahead of him.
Celtic have been rinsed by Nawrocki
Along with the whopping £4.3m fee they paid Legia Warsaw for his services, Celtic are reportedly paying the central defender £12k-per-week in wages.
Scales, who significantly outperformed Nawrocki on the pitch last season, is only on £5k-per-week, which means that the Polish dud is earning more than two times as much as the Ireland international.
The Scottish Premiership champions are not getting value for money from those wages as the Irish colossus was far more important to the team last term.
Appearances
34
10
Interceptions per game
0.8
0.8
Tackles per game
1.5
1.2
Ball recoveries per game
6.1
2.3
Duel success rate
63%
57%
As you can see in the table above, Scales made more than three times as many appearances in the top-flight and won a higher percentage of his duels, whilst also making more tackles and ball recoveries per game.
The former Aberdeen loanee has also started all four league games at the start of this season alongside Carter-Vickers, with Trusty seemingly brought in to provide them both with competition for their place in the side.
This suggests that Nawrocki, when he is fit again, could be the fourth-choice centre-back, possibly fifth if Stephen Welsh is preferred ahead of him, and rarely getting a chance on the pitch.
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Therefore, Celtic have been rinsed by the £4.3m flop who has not, as of yet, given them value for money on his transfer fee or his wages.