Football finance expert Kieran Maguire believes Celtic's knack of earning a transfer profit has never been more important than it is amid the current climate.
Jeremie Frimpong's switch to Bayer Leverkusen in a deal worth a potential £11m means the Premiership champions have now earned more than £100m from departures in just over a decade.
Outgoing chief executive Peter Lawwell has earned widespread praise for his ability to land big money for the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Victor Wanyama, Moussa Dembele and Kieran Tierney.
But Maguire - who runs the widely respected The Price of Football blog and website - reckons the transfer touch of selling at the right time must continue with teams across the globe facing unique challenges during the pandemic.
And Celtic are set to have their resolve tested this summer with the likes of Odsonne Edouard, Kris Ajer and Ryan Christie linked with moves away from Parkhead.
Speaking to Football Insider, he said: "For a club like Celtic, it’s absolutely essential.
“Over the course of the last decade, Celtic have made profits of £97million from player sales (up until last set of financial results). That’s down to good recruitment.
“Persuading players that you are a development club and that you’re not necessarily an end in your self but part of a player’s pathway to success is really important.
“That has allowed Celtic to reinvest that money, so it can become a virtuous circle. The problem is if you have a season where you don’t really have a big-money sale.
“They made a profit of £24m on Tierney, £17.7m from Dembele, and they’ve been very smart in the last few years.
“This year, the football has been poor and that’s had an impact on the fees they can charge.
"So spotting talent and then being able to sell that talent is very, very important, unless you are backed by someone like Abramovich who can afford to write off players.”
