The bargain bin can provide a gem - but Celtic have a history of digging deep into their pockets for talent.
Player-trading models are all the rage in the modern game, with the current Premiership champions all-in on their fit. They buy low as possible and sell high, with Jota making them close to £20m in profit last summer a clear show of the game at work.
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, big money was being splashed on players from down south and abroad. Some were flops fans would struggle to utter the names of, others have made themselves club heroes.
Closer to today, big money and record fees have been spent, with mixed returns on their investments. Using Football Transfers as a metric, Glasgow World uses a 4-4-2 formation to work out the most expensive possible Celtic. The only stipulation of this is a player's position move can't be more than one space forward or back, for example, Chris Sutton could not play up front.
The total value of our XI comes in at an approximate value of £67.3m. Let's take a look at who is where.
1. GK: Vasilis Barkas (£4.5M)
The goalkeeper joined from AEK Athens and cost £281,000 per league game. Had his contract ripped up and moved to Utrecht. Photo: Ian MacNicol
2. RB: Rafael Scheidt (£5m)
The defender was a big money arrival in 1999, playing a handful of games, and needing Celtic to pay off the rest of his contract as he no longer met UK work permits by the time he left permanently in 2002. The Guardian claimed Scheidt was the second worst transfer in the history of football in an article in 2001. | Getty Images
3. CB: Christopher Jullien (£7m)
Remembered fondly through his League Cup final winner in 2019, but his £850k exit fee was a fraction of the £7m Celtic paid Toulouse. | Getty Images
4. CB: Jozo Simunovic (£5.5M)
Defender joined for a fee claimed to be towards £5.5m. Injuries plagued him before an exit in 2020 and spent over a year afterwards out of football before joining HNK Gorica. | Getty Images