Celtic have not found it particularly difficult to land a prolific number nine in the transfer market to lead the line for the Scottish giants over the years.
They currently have lethal Japan international Kyogo Furuhashi firing in goals consistently at Paradise and have had the likes of Chris Sutton, Henrik Larsson, Odsonne Edouard, and Moussa Dembele in the past.
However, they do not have a perfect record with signing strikers and one dud who flopped badly with the Hoops was Swiss lightweight Albian Ajeti.
Celtic signed the West Ham United marksman for a reported fee of £5m in 2020 and went on to score just nine goals in 48 matches in all competitions.
He completed a move to Turkish side Gaziantep FK ahead of the 2023/24 season and left the Scottish side without proving himself to be a reliable goalscoring option for the club.
Were Celtic interested in Ivan Toney?
One player the Bhoys missed out on that year and surely now regret is England international Ivan Toney, who was a target for ex-manager Neil Lennon during the summer transfer window.
The player himself revealed that he went up to Parkhead for talks with the club but did not feel like he would be the main man for the Hoops in his position.
He said that his aim was to be the star number nine for his next team and that Lennon would have had him as one of a number of options, rather than the out-and-out first-choice striker.
Toney was coming off the back of an impressive 2019/20 campaign with Peterborough in the third division of English football and wanted to take the next step in his career.
The English marksman plundered 24 goals and five assists in 32 League One outings and averaged a terrific Sofascore rating of 7.64, which was the highest score of any player within the squad that term.
His outstanding form came after the former Newcastle United academy starlet produced 16 goals and seven assists in 44 league matches for Peterborough during the 2018/19 season. This shows that he improved between the two campaigns and was able to find the back of the net far more regularly at that level.
Toney's superb performances in League One caught the eye of Celtic but Lennon seemingly did not do enough to convince the player that he would be the main man at Parkhead, which has turned out to be a disaster as he has gone on to be a huge success in England.
Brentford eventually signed him in the summer of 2020 for an initial fee of £5m, which is how much the Hoops paid for Ajeti, which could rise to a maximum of £10m.
How many goals has Toney scored for Brentford?
The 27-year-old finisher has racked up an excellent 68 goals in 124 matches for the Bees over the last three years with the London-based outfit.
His first season with the club was a roaring success as he took the Championship by storm and helped them to win promotion to the Premier League.
Toney plundered a record-breaking 33 goals in 48 league matches, including the playoffs, throughout the 2020/21 campaign under Thomas Frank.
No player had scored more than 30 goals in a single Championship season prior to the English ace's phenomenal output for Brentford that term. However, Aleksandar Mitrovic did not let the record sit for long as he produced a mind-boggling 43 goals in 44 league clashes the following campaign for Fulham.
Toney also showcased his unselfishness as he produced ten assists and ten 'big chances' created for his teammates, which – along with his goals – earned him a Sofascore rating of 7.38.
He has, since, proven himself to be a reliable Premier League goalscorer for Brentford with 32 goals in 66 top-flight matches for the club since the start of the 2021/22 campaign.
The England international, who is currently serving a ban until January 2024, scored 20 goals in 33 league games for the Bees last season and, as a result, has seen his market value soar since his initial move to the club.
How much is Toney worth now?
It was recently reported by The Mirror that Brentford value the 27-year-old marksman at a whopping £60m amid growing interest from Champions League side Arsenal.
This means that his value has rocketed up by a staggering £50m from the £10m package that Brentford initially paid Peterborough for his services three years ago.
Meanwhile, Celtic's record departure, as per Transfermarkt, is Jota for £25m, when he joined Saudi Pro League side Al Ittihad earlier this summer.
Therefore, the Hoops missed out on a player who had the potential to be worth a club-record amount of money when they failed to bring Toney to Parkhead in 2020, which shows that they dropped a big blunder with the ex-League One star.
Peterborough chief Barry Fry said that the player would be a "revelation" for Celtic and claimed that he would score between 30 and 40 goals in the Scottish Premiership, which appears to be a fair comment when you consider his outstanding Championship form the following season.
Instead, Lennon was unable to convince Toney to make the move and the Bhoys ended up with Ajeti coming in from West Ham for £5m.
How much is Ajeti worth now?
The Switzerland international is currently valued at €1.3m (£1.1m) by FootballTransfers and this means that his value has dropped by £3.9m over the last three years.
Ajeti scored eight goals in 26 Premiership matches and has never scored more than 15 goals in a single league campaign throughout his entire career to date.
These statistics show that Celtic had a mare with the signing of the former Hammers flop as his value plummeted across his spell in Scotland and he failed to prove himself to be a reliable goalscoring option for the club.
Meanwhile, Toney went on to break records for Brentford and has seen his value soar to incredible heights with the Bees, with a potential move to a Champions League club on the horizon for the English dynamo.
Celtic and Lennon could have benefited from his quality on and off the pitch with his phenomenal goalscoring potential to go along with the multi-million-pound sale that the Hoops could have profited off if his value rocketed up in Scotland.