The 27-year-old striker who almost signed for Celtic is now said to be close to a £60 million transfer.

Out of all the transfer near misses you read about, this one is not so much a near miss, but a monumental mistake.

It was widely reported how Brentford striker, Ivan Toney, almost signed for Celtic back in the summer of 2020. Now, as reports claim he is on the brink of a £60m move to Arsenal, Celtic will be rueing the day that they missed out on the 27-year-old.

The Englishman was in red-hot form for Peterborough and was heavily tipped to make the switch to Glasgow but Celtic couldn’t get a deal over the line.

Instead, Toney went to Brentford, Celtic signed Albian Ajeti, and the rest, as they say, is history. But now, after scoring 68 goals in 124 appearances for Burnley, Toney is now set for his next big move.

How close was Ivan Toney to signing for Celtic?

Very, according to not only the player but also the Celtic manager at the time, Neil Lennon. Toney was extremely close to coming to Glasgow in the summer of 2020.

Toney said on the rumours he almost signed for Celtic, “Yeah that was close. I spoke to a few people up there – and I spoke to the manager.

“We just couldn’t get a deal over the line.

Manager at the time, Neil Lennon, addressed the rumours that he was close to signing Toney and he said, “We had Toney in the building at Lennoxtown when we were in France, so we were well down the line with that one. Just finances, I assume.” [67 Hail Hail]

And as the Celtic fans had to suffer Ajeti floundering about in the final third during the ten in a row season, Toney was banging in the goals for The Bees as they made their push for promotion to the English Premier League.

All things happen for a reason. If Toney did come to Celtic, ten in a row would have been practically guaranteed. But if that did happen, then Celtic would never have had Ange Postecoglou. And neither would Spurs.

Every cloud and all that, eh?