Former Celtic centre-forward Chris Sutton was particularly scathing of the club’s recruitment after they lost 2-0 to Dundee in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the match, the pundit said: “Celtic have massive problems. They have to get to January and still stay in touch. This is a bang average Celtic team and I think Brendan recognises that.
“The signing of Kelechi Iheanacho summed everything up. That was desperation. I’m not saying he’s a bad player but you think back to when Celtic were rotating Giorgos Giakoumakis and Kyogo Furuhashi, that quality, that’s the difference.”
It is hard not to point to the recruitment department when looking for the reason why Celtic have failed to score in six competitive matches already this season.
Celtic needed a striker in the summer, before they sold Adam Idah, and they failed to bring in Kasper Dolberg from Anderlecht, before selling Idah without getting a replacement in. Kelechi Iheanacho then arrived on a free transfer, but they were still down another forward.
Meanwhile, Hearts signed Claudio Braga from Aalesund on top of keeping Lawrence Shankland, and have fired their way to the top of the Premiership table.
What Celtic can learn from the recruitment at Hearts
Tony Bloom invested in Hearts and brought his data expertise with him to bolster their recruitment, and it already looks to have paid off big time for the Jam Tarts.
Braga scored 11 goals and provided six assists in 37 appearances in the second tier of football in Norway in the 2025 and 2024 campaigns for Aalesund, per Sofascore, before his move to Scotland in the summer.
The versatile forward, who can play as a number ten, a second striker, or as a centre-forward, scored two goals against Kilmarnock on Saturday to take his tally to eight goals in all competitions, per Transfermarkt.
Braga’s highlights from their win over Kilmarnock in the clips above show that he can operate in positions all over the pitch, with almost a free role because of Shankland’s presence as the focal point for the team.
The Portuguese star is free to roam around the pitch and drop deep when needed to get touches of the ball to make things happen for Hearts, as evidenced by his statistics.
Appearances
8
Touches per game
42.8
Goals
5
Big chances missed
4
Key passes per game
1.1
Assists
1
Successful dribbles per game
0.9
As you can see in the table above, Braga takes around 43 touches per game on average and has been directly involved in six goals in eight matches to show that he is making the most of those touches.
Celtic can learn from the recruitment that Hearts have done for multiple reasons. One, that they do not need to splash £10m on a player from a major European league, as Braga was picked up from the second tier in Norway and has outscored every Celtic player in the Premiership.
Two, that the recruitment needs to be well thought through. Hearts knew they had Shankland leading the line, so they signed the Portuguese ace to be the perfect partner for him.
Celtic, meanwhile, signed two left-wingers, despite Daizen Maeda scoring 33 goals as a left-winger last season, and did not sign a right-winger to replace Nicolas Kuhn, whilst they also sold Adam Idah, a target man and physical presence, and signed Iheanacho, who does not have a similar profile to Idah.
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Despite being signed to be the main number nine, Iheanacho has the attributes and the quality to be Brendan Rodgers’ own version of Braga, but the Hoops do not have their own Shankland.
Why Kelechi Iheanacho can be Celtic's own Claudio Braga
For all of the former Manchester City man’s strengths, the Nigeria international is not a target man. He is not going to cause too many problems for opposition defenders with his physicality.
Per Sofascore, Iheanacho has won 1.5 duels per game and won just 38% of his duels in total, whilst Shankland has won 4.4 duels per game and 44% of his total battles on the pitch.
He does not look suited to being the sole number nine for Celtic as a target man, because of his lack of physicality, and that is not his fault, because it is something that the recruitment team should have factored in when they made the signing.
Last season, Michael Carrick utilised Iheanacho as a second striker behind another number nine, which meant that he had the license to drift around the pitch and get involved in the game, instead of being isolated up front.
This means that he has the potential to be Celtic’s own Braga because of his ability to play off another striker. Meanwhile, Maeda is more suited to playing out wide, and has been utilised on the left and right flanks this season, after scoring 33 goals as a left winger last term, per Transfermarkt.
Chances created
1.77
Top 1%
xA
0.17
Top 24%
Pass accuracy
79.5%
Top 12%
Long pass accuracy
100%
Top 1%
Dribble success rate
100%
Top 1%
Touches in the opposition’s box
8.15
Top 12%
As you can see in the table above, Iheanacho has shown great technical ability and link-up play in the Premiership this season, but he has yet to score a goal from open play.
Shankland’s presence and physicality occupy opposition defenders and create space for Braga to ghost into and score, but Celtic do not have a number nine like that who can take the pressure off Iheanacho.
Instead, it currently looks like he has to play the role of Shankland and Braga on his own, which may be why the Hoops have struggled so much in front of goal.
Iheanacho’s position for Middlesbrough and the qualities that he has shown in the Premiership so far suggest that he is more suited to playing like Braga, off another striker, but Rodgers does not have that outlet in the centre-forward position that Hearts do.
Maeda is a winger, not a target man, so he is not the answer. Therefore, the Hoops need to dip into the market in January to sign a striker who can complement Iheanacho and get the best out of him in the second half of the season, so that he can be as effective as Braga.