Celtic, as is the case with every club in the world, have made poor signings over the years to strengthen their first-team squad.
Michel-Ange Balikwisha is one such example. The winger was signed for £5m from Royal Antwerp last summer to strengthen Brenden Rodgers’ options in the side.
However, Sebastian Tunecuti, who plays in the same position as him, was signed in the same transfer window and was selected ahead of him throughout the season.
Balikwisha was not included in Saturday’s 2-1 SFA Cup win over Dundee and has not featured in the Scottish Premiership squad since the game against Hearts on December 7.
In fact, his last appearance for the Hoops in the Premiership was in October, in Martin O’Neill’s 4-0 win over Falkirk, in which he came on as a substitute.
However, the forward has provided two assists in 398 minutes for Celtic and may feel a lack of game time is the reason for his struggles.
£5m fiasco could be Celtic’s worst ever signing
Balikwisha still has time to turn things around, but Celtic have a £5m signing in what could go down as the worst contract of all time, and possibly the worst contract of all time.
Celtic’s richest contract in history
The Hoops have made smart signings over the years.
Albian Ajeti may not make the list of the club’s all-time richest signings, but the Hoops paid £5m for a player they later sold for just £500,000.
The Swiss international scored nine goals in 48 games in all competitions during his three years in Glasgow and was sold to Gaziantep for £4.5m less than the £5m he paid West Ham United.
Ajeti joined the Scottish giants as a steady and reliable goalscorer in the number nine position, but ended up averaging a goal every 5.3 appearances in all competitions.
Because of the amount of money spent on him, the number of goals he received in return, and the pitiful fee he collected after three years, it’s hard to overlook that he’s probably the worst signing in the club’s history.
Unfortunately, the Celtic squad that played against Dundee on Saturday looks like the club’s worst signing since bringing Ajeti to Parkhead.
Celtic’s failure could be worst signing since Ajeti
As mentioned above, Balikwisha has been on a bad contract so far. The club paid him a lot of money and although he rarely appears on the pitch, he has provided at least two assists and may need more time to show his quality.
However, to put it harshly, Joel Mvuka already looks like an even worse deal than the Belgian and will probably be the club’s worst since Ajeti.
Celtic signed the Norwegian forward on loan from Lorient on deadline day to strengthen their wide range of options, a move that surprised one journalist covering French football.
Robin Bearner describes this as “mvuka is“A mediocre Ligue 1 player,” he added, adding: “You get the feeling from the Celtic board that doing something is better than doing nothing,” which seemed pretty harsh at the time.
However, the 23-year-old’s performances for Lorient in the French top flight during the first half of the 2025/26 season confirmed Byner’s criticism of the winger.
25/26 Ligue 1 | Joel, wake up |
|---|---|
Appearance | 15 |
the goal | 0 |
Shah | 0.69 |
Key paths per game | 0.3 |
assist | 0 |
Number of successful dribbles per game | 0.4 |
Mvuka contributed little at the top end of the pitch during his time in Ligue 1 earlier this season, but his debut for Celtic explains why this happened.
The right-footed attacker was started on the right wing by O’Neill in Saturday’s SFA Cup match against Dundee, alongside Hyun-Jung Yang and Tomas Kvankala.
Unfortunately, Mvuka’s performance in the first half was so dismal that the manager decided not to use him in the 45th minute of the second half and he was removed from the game at half-time.
The Norwegian dud did not look of the same skill level as his teammates at the top end of the pitch. There were many clumsy touches and body feints that failed to fool the Dundee defenders, leading to a highly inefficient performance.
Considering Mvuka has never scored more than three goals in a season in his career, it’s not too surprising that he never really hit the ground running with the Hoops, but there was still room for improvement in his overall game.
That may be incredibly tough after just one appearance, but based on his career results, manager Vyner’s assessment at the time of his move, and his poor debut, Mvuka already looks to be Celtic’s worst player since Ajeti’s £5m signing.
At least Balikwisha has scored 14 goals in his last two seasons with Royal Antwerp, which somewhat justifies his deal, while Mvuka has never scored more than three goals or provided more than six assists in a single league season.
Hopefully the former Bodø/Glimt star can prove everyone wrong and find success at Parkhead. Unfortunately, he went down the wrong path in front of the Parkhead faithful.
Celtic make offer to sign bargain star after Oxlade-Chamberlain
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