Celtic head coach Brendan Rodgers handed out two full debuts in the 2-1 win over Kilmarnock away from home in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
Colby Donovan, an academy graduate, started for the first time at right-back. Summer signing Sebastian Tounekti also started the match on the left wing after his deadline day move from the Swedish side.
Both players caught the eye in different ways. The full-back showcased his defensive skills, winning seven of his ten duels, whilst the winger created four chances and completed five dribbles, per Sofascore.
As well as handing full debuts to Tounekti and Donovan from the start, Rodgers brought Kelechi Iheanacho off the bench to make his debut for the Scottish giants against Kilmarnock.
The former Sevilla marksman, who arrived at Parkhead on a free transfer on the day after deadline day, stepped up from the spot to score the winning goal from the penalty spot in the 96th minute.
Celtic will now be hoping that Iheanacho and Tounekti, two of their summer signings, can kick on from here and prove that they are worth the wage for the Hoops.
How much Celtic's new signings earn
Per Salary Leaks, Kieran Tierney is said to be the highest-earning player among the summer signings made by the Scottish Premiership champions, on £50k-per-week.
This is not a surprise because the Scotland international has spent the last six years in England with Arsenal, one of the biggest clubs in the world, after a £25m move from Celtic in 2019.
Iheanacho, interestingly, is the next highest earner alongside Benjamin Nygren, on £25k-per-week, after he moved to Glasgow on a free transfer from Sevilla, after the Spanish side ripped up his contract on deadline day.
The left-footed forward spent many seasons in the Premier League with Manchester City and Leicester City, though, and was previously at a LaLiga club, so it was unlikely that he was going to be on cheap wages.
Kieran Tierney
£50k
Kelechi Iheanacho
£25k
Benjamin Nygren
£25k
Shin Yamada
£13k
Sebastian Tounekti
£10k
Michel-Ange Balikwisha
£10k
Marcelo Saracchi
£7k
Hayato Inamura
£6k
Ross Doohan
£5k
Callum Osmand
£1k
Jahmai Simpson-Pusey
£1k
As you can see in the table above, most of the club’s 11 signings are reportedly on fairly low wages, as only three of them earn more than £13k-per-week.
Per Salary Leaks, only three of the club’s summer signings, Tierney, Nygren, and Iheanacho, are in the top 13 earners at Parkhead this season, which shows that the Hoops have not splashed significant money across the board on their new additions.
That may be a reaction to last summer’s signings and how poorly some of them went down. Adam Idah, for example, joined for an initial fee of £8.5m and left a year later to sign for Swansea for an initial fee of £6m on deadline day.
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Another one of last summer’s recruits who should be in danger of following Idah out of the door at Parkhead is Auston Trusty, who has not provided value for money since his move to the club.
The USA international joined from Sheffield United in the summer of 2024 for a fee of £5m and, per Salary Leaks, earns more than all of this summer’s signings aside from Tierney.
Why Celtic must part ways with Auston Trusty
Unless there is a drastic switch-up in form, the Scottish giants should be looking to finally part ways with the USMNT star when the January transfer window opens for business at the start of next year.
Per Salary Leaks, Trusty earns £32k-per-week, which is more than new signings Iheanacho and Tounekti, and the fifth-highest wage within the first-team squad, only behind Callum McGregor, Jota, Cameron Carter-Vickers, and Tierney.
Unfortunately, the former Arsenal central defender’s performances on the pitch for the Hoops since the start of last season have failed to justify the outlay that the club have paid, and continue to pay, for his services.
At the start of 2025, Rodgers said that the left-footed flop had to do better against Dundee. The boss noted that the team was “a bit soft” with Trusty at centre-back, as he was beaten too easily in the air for Dundee’s third goal in the game.
Defensive mistakes, like the one in the clip above, were too commonplace for the former Sheffield United star for a player who was signed for big money on big wages last year.
Trusty has not provided the quality that was expected from a signing of his calibre, unfortunately, and has found himself as the back-up to Liam Scales in the left-sided centre-back role at the start of this season.
Appearances
26
22
Clean sheets
14
10
Tackles + interceptions per game
1.9
2.3
Dribbled past per game
0.2x
0.5x
Error led to shot
1
4
Error led to goal
0
1
Duel success rate
72%
64%
As you can see in the table above, the American flop was outperformed by Scales in the Premiership last season, as the £5m signing made four more errors that led to shots or goals, was dribbled past more than twice as much, and won a lower percentage of his physical duels.
These statistics show that Trusty has been too much of a liability at the heart of the defence for Celtic, because of his costly errors and how easy opposition forwards find it to dribble past him with the ball.
He should be in the prime years of his career, at the age of 27, but finds himself as a second-choice in his position, despite being one of the highest earners at the club.
The Daily Record reported in the summer that European and English clubs were interested in signing Trusty, which suggests that there could be enough interest for Celtic to cash in on him when the January window opens.
Whilst the Hoops must ditch Trusty because of his underperformances, the Scottish giants will be hoping the likes of Tounekti and Iheanacho will do enough to justify their wage this season, after a strong start from both of them against Kilmarnock.
