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Daily Record
Sport
Gabriel McKay

The Celtic transfer parallel as Copenhagen rake in £60million in fees

In recent years Celtic have become well known for their mastery of the transfer market.

The Hoops have looked to identify emerging talent from across Europe and bring them to the Scottish Premiership, before selling for a tidy profit.

The likes of Victor Wanyama, Virgil van Dijk and Moussa Dembele arrived for next to nothing before leaving for big money, as did youth product Kieran Tierney.

Of the current squad Odsonne Edouard and Kris Ajer will surely earn a transfer windfall in the not-too-distant future, especially if they continue to impress in the Europa League.

Neil Lennon's side return to European action this week, and in Copenhagen they'll be facing a side with a very similar approach.

The Danes have reached the group stage of European competition for 13 of the last 14 seasons and currently sit three places ahead of the Hoops in the UEFA club coefficients.

Technical director Johan Lange and manager Stale Solbakken, who has been in place since 2013, have a proven record in the transfer market.

Over the past five seasons they've brought in around £60million in transfer fees - a big windfall in a country where the record incoming fee is the £4.2m Copenhagen paid for Pep Biel in the summer.

Here are some of their biggest successes of the past few seasons.

Robin Olsen

(FIFA via Getty Images)

 

The goalkeeper was signed on an initial loan from PAOK Salonika in 2015, before making the move permanent for £650k a year later.

Olsen won two league titles with Copenhagen and starred for Sweden at the 2018 World Cup.

That brought him to the attention of Italian giants Roma, who he joined for £7m plus a further potential £2m in bonuses.

Copenhagen will also receive 10 per cent of the profit of any future sale, with the Swede currently on loan at Cagliari.

Bought for: £650k

Sold for: £9million

Federico Santander

(Getty Images)

 

Signed from Guarani in his native Paraguay for £2.79m in 2015, the striker scored 48 goals in 112 games.

Santander was certainly a player Copenhagen could bank on as he brought in almost double the initial fee when he joined Bologna in 2018.

Bought for: £2.79m

Sold for: £5.85m

Robert Skov

 

Skov was signed from fellow Danish side Silkeborg in January of 2018, and broke the Danish league goalscoring record in the following season.

The youngster scored 29 goals in 34 games and was soon linked with the likes of Tottenham and Arsenal.

Skov eventually moved to Bundesliga side Hoffenheim and has three goals in four international caps - though all of them came against Gibraltar.

Bought for: £900k

Sold for: £9m

Denis Vavro

(AFP via Getty Images)

 

Vavro shows the value of looking outside of Europe's traditional big leagues for talent.

The centre-back was signed from Slovakian side Zilina for just £1.26m in 2017 and helped Copenhagen win the Superliga the following season.

Celtic fans may well be familiar with Vavro, who played against them in both wins over Lazio - a club he joined for £9.5m in the summer.

Bought for: £1.26m

Sold for: £9.5m

Andreas Cornelius

(Getty Images)

 

Arguably the best of Copenhagen's transfer dealings as they twice brought in big fees for the striker.

Cornelius came through the youth system and was sold to Cardiff City for £8m in 2013.

He soon returned to the Danish capital for an undisclosed fee, with the Bluebirds admitting: "in the case of Andreas Cornelius, who cost the club in total just under £10m, we realise a large loss in excess of £8.5m, inclusive of transfer fees, salaries, business and compensation paid to player's agents".

The striker was then sold to Atalanta in 2017 for a further £4.46m.

Bought for: Youth product

Sold for: £8m + £4.46m

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