Debating the case for Celtic selling or keeping Nicolas Kuhn

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The Celtic Star

·26 juin 2025

Debating the case for Celtic selling or keeping Nicolas Kuhn

Nicolas Kuhn, according to reports, looks set to depart Celtic with RB Leipzig the favourites to sign the winger in a £15 million deal, although that price tag appears to come from media reporting with a little creative license than anything coming out of the clubs.

Nicolas Kuhn of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between FC Bayern München and Celtic FC at Allianz Arena on February 18, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

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Having sold Matt O’Riley for £30m – and he cost half the price of our German winger – it’s hard to see Celtic settling for £15m for Kuhn who was an essential player for Celtic in the Champions League campaign last season. Look at it this way, if Kuhn continues to impress in a second consecutive Champions League campaign then his valuation will soar and Celtic could be collecting £30m for his signature this time next year.

Nicolas Kuehn of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between FC Bayern München and Celtic FC at Allianz Arena on February 18, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

However if the player wants to leave then – if Celtic’s valuation is met – then the club will NOT stand in their way. Indeed that is part of the selling pitch Celtic makes to players and if one remains, sits in the dressing room sulking, form out the window, then that message spreads like wildfire.

Nicolas Kuhn of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and RB Leipzig at Celtic Park on November 05, 2024 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Whilst it would be an undoubted blow to lose a player of Nicolas Kuhn’s quality it’s not something we can afford to cry over and instead Brendan Rodgers should be looking to reinvest the fee on more quality additions.

Kuhn will be a hard player to replace, but it depends on what version of the player you are talking about.

The Nicolas Kuhn who started the early part of season 2024/25 will be hard to replace and will prove a big loss, but the Nicolas Kuhn who turned out in the second half of the campaign, the Champions league play off against Bayern Munich in the Allianz aside, will not be missed as much.

Nicolas was rampant in the early part of the campaign so much so that he was shortlisted in the Scottish Player of the Year awards. He had the skill, the pace, and goals and was looking very much like the complete forward.

Nicolas Kuhn celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the UEFA Champions League match between Celtic FC and RB Leipzig at Celtic Park on November 05, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

For some reason or another his head wasn’t fully focused in the second half of the campaign and he looked very much a pale shadow of the player we knew he could be. Maybe his head was turned by some of the reported January interest, or maybe it was personal problems off the field, but either way his head wasn’t fully in it.

That is most likely the biggest factor in the club sanctioning his transfer, and it’s a certainty we will miss the dynamic Nicolas Kuhn, but the other version not so much.

Nicolas Kuhn of Celtic celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD4 match between Celtic FC and RB Leipzig at Celtic Park on November 05, 2024. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Th counter argument, as has been repeatedly stated on The Celtic Star, is that the new format Champions League took more out of the players than perhaps expected. It was the first time for this format and Celtic had many more games and a relentless period of football stretching to half a season.

Brendan and his staff as well as his players dealt with it very well but on he other side – after the heartache in Munich, too many tanks were empty and there would have been some mental exhaustion too. Brendan Rodgers will make the necessary adjustments for this season and that should mean more squad rotation and that needs more quality – just go back and look at the Celtic team that finished the Scottish Cup final to see why a depth in quality is needed.

Nicolas Kuhn scores during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Knockout Play-off second leg match between FC Bayern München and Celtic FC at Allianz Arena on February 18, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

Playing Nicolas Kuhn and last season’s regular starters no more than 40 times would be ideal if the quality replacements are there to bring in. That’s the argument for keeping Nicolas Kuhn – and to say it again – he was Celtic’s best performer in the Champions League last season.

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