Sold for peanuts, now worth £6m: Celtic had a nightmare on "exemplary" £24k-p/w talent - opinion

Celtic have not been shy when it comes to moving certain players out of the club over recent years, whether it be on loan or permanent deals.

With the benefit of hindsight, one figure that the Hoops got rid of a few years ago that they may now be regretting is Liam Henderson.

As a product of the club’s youth system, the midfielder made 37 senior appearances for the Hoops in which he scored three goals and provided two assists.

In the 2018 January transfer window, Celtic sold their youth graduate to Italian club Bari for a reported fee of £115k.

After joining Hellas Verona just a few months after he made his original move to Italy, the Scotsman signed to Lecce in September 2020.

The midfielder was on the move again in the previous summer transfer window after he signed to FC Empoli on a permanent deal after he had spent some time on loan there in 2020.

Since then, the former Celtic talent has appeared in every Serie A game that Empoli have played against the likes of Juventus and the two Milan giants, scoring one goal and providing four assists along the way.

To highlight what a useful player he has been for his current club in this campaign, no other Empoli player has made more pressures (197) in the midfield area of the pitch than the £24k-per-week gem, who also has the second-highest number of crosses made.

Also, only Nedim Bajrami (1.7) has racked up a higher average of key passes than the former Hoops youth starlet (1.1).

Praised for his “exemplary” behaviour by Lecce president Saverio Sticchi Damiani, Henderson is currently valued at £6m according to CIES, which is significantly higher than the transfer fee that Celtic picked up for him back in 2018.

With that in mind and how well the midfield talent is doing in