£6.5m down the drain: Shocking £18k-p/w "problem" has been rinsing Celtic for 79 weeks - opinion

Having joined Celtic in a £5m move back in 2020, expectations were high for Albian Ajeti at Parkhead.

Indeed, Neil Lennon stated upon the Switzerland international’s arrival in Glasgow: “We are delighted to bring Albian to Celtic. He is a tremendous player, an international with real quality and I know he is really determined to do all he can to bring more success to our supporters.

“I have admired him for a long time as he is a really intelligent footballer, well balanced and a really good finisher. We are so pleased to make him a Celtic player and we hope he has a long and prosperous career with us.”

However, despite this early expectation, just one and a half years down the line, the 24-year-old’s career in Glasgow already appears to all but be at an end, with Ajeti having been heavily linked with a move away from Celtic in the January transfer window.

Indeed, following Ange Postecoglou’s signings of Kyogo Furuhashi, Giorgos Giakoumakis and Daizen Maeda, Ajeti now appears to be well down the attacking pecking order at Celtic Park – something that is hardly surprising considering the £2.25m-rated man’s returns since joining the club.

Over his 48 appearances for the Hoops, the former West Ham United striker has scored just nine goals and registered five assists, while he also earned an extremely disappointing seasonal SofaScore match rating of 6.85 over his 20 Premiership appearances in 2020/21 – ranking him as Celtic’s joint 12th-worst performer in the league last season.

Things have not improved for the £18k-per-week striker this time around, either, with the forward averaging a match rating of 6.72 over his seven league outings, before sustaining a “significant” hamstring injury back in December.

These returns have,