Celtic Vs Rangers: Old Firm Squad Building Strategies – Data Analysis

This Sunday, Celtic Park will play host to the first Old Firm Derby of the 2024/25 campaign.

Reigning Scottish champions Celtic will face off at home against bitter rivals Rangers four games into the Premiership season.

Thus far, Brendan Rodgers’ side have got a flawless record in the league with three wins from three, equalling nine points; the Bhoys have also scored nine goals and conceded zero in an impressive opening three league games.

On the opposite side, while Philippe Clement’s Gers are still unbeaten in the league this season, they did drop two points in matchday one against Hearts.

This means they enter this Sunday’s game in third place, trailing their Glasgow foes by two points.

While all eyes will be planted firmly on the pitch this Sunday, these two clubs battle in plenty of ways off the pitch, too, including in terms of their recruitment, which plays an absolutely vital role in preparing any club for the season ahead and giving the coaching staff the tools they need to achieve their goals.

This data analysis piece will delve into the data and statistics to provide some insight into both of these teams’ respective approaches to recruitment in recent years, leading up to where we find them and their squads today ahead of their upcoming contest.

Our analysis focuses on the way in which these two clubs have composed their current first-team squads, where Celtic have succeeded in recent years and where Rangers need to improve.

Celtic & Rangers Transfer Income And Expenditure

We’ll start by focusing on these two clubs’ respective recent transfer income and expenditure.

We’ll begin by focusing on the current Scottish champions who have won three of the last four Premiership titles, two of the last four Scottish Cups and two of the last four Scottish League Cups from the 2020/21 season to the current campaign — the same time period we’re centring on for our data analysis.

With the exception of 2022/23 — the second year of Ange Postecoglou’s tenure at Parkhead — Celtic’s income has been above their expenditure due to past transfer investments paying off and allowing the club to reinvest healthily.

The sales Celtic made during this period include Jeremie Frimpong (signed from Manchester City for €380k, sold to Bayer Leverkusen for €11m), Odsonne Édouard (signed from PSG for €10.3m, sold to Crystal Palace for €16.3m), Kristoffer Ajer (signed from Start for €600k, sold to Brentford for €15.7m), Jota (signed from Benfica for €16.2m, sold to Al-Ittihad for €29.1m) and Matt O’Riley (signed from MK Dons for €1.8m, sold to Brighton and Hove Albion for €29.5m).