Callum Osmand: Celtic’s Next £30 Million Sale?

We’ve struggled this season so far with inconsistency up top, while wondering whether we will ever turn up this season and be the Celtic. Then came Callum Osmand.

If Sunday’s performance against Hearts is anything to go by, we might already have our next £30 Million sale in a few seasons.

Callum Osmand could be Celtic’s next £30 million sale.

That might sound ridiculous after two goals in a single game, but there was something about the young striker’s performance in the 7-1 demolition of Hearts that should have every Celtic supporter excited.

Osmand was sharp, aggressive and absolutely ruthless when the opportunities arrived. His first goal was a composed finish after Camilo Durán played him through, before he followed it up just minutes later by getting himself into the right position to turn Durán’s rebound into another goal.

Two goals in two minutes. A young striker making his mark in one of the biggest fixtures of our domestic season.

And remember, this is a player who has barely had a consistent run in the first team.

Osmand has endured a frustrating Celtic career so far, with injuries repeatedly interrupting his progress. After arriving from Fulham, where he scored 18 goals for their Under-21 side during the 2024/25 campaign, he looked like a player with plenty of potential. But potential means very little when you spend more time in the treatment room than on the pitch.

That is what makes Sunday’s performance so encouraging.

We have seen glimpses of what Osmand can offer, including his dramatic late goal against Hearts that helped seal the league title last season. But supporters have been waiting to see what he could do when given the opportunity to build momentum.

Against Hearts, we got another glimpse.

There is a difference between being a promising youngster and looking like a player who can genuinely develop into a first-team regular. Osmand showed the instincts Celtic need from a striker: finding space, attacking the box and being alert when chances appeared.

He also benefited from playing alongside Durán, whose movement and directness caused Hearts all sorts of problems. Their understanding for Osmand’s first goal was particularly encouraging, and Durán’s work in the build-up to the second demonstrated how much a striker can benefit from having teammates who are willing to run beyond defenders and create chaos.

That combination could become important for Celtic.

We have spent too much time debating the striker position, questioning whether our expensive signings are delivering and wondering where the next reliable source of goals will come from. Osmand has an opportunity to make himself part of that conversation.

But the £30 million question is about more than two goals against Hearts.

Celtic have built their business model around identifying, developing and selling players for significant fees. We have seen how valuable that can be when the club gets recruitment and development right. The challenge is making sure we do not sell players before they have delivered their best football for us.

Osmand has the age, the background and the early signs of quality to make supporters dream about what might be possible. He came through Fulham’s academy, earned a move to Celtic and arrived with a reputation as a promising young forward. At 20, he has plenty of time to develop physically, improve his decision-making and become more consistent at senior level.

A £30 million valuation is obviously a long way off at this stage. One outstanding afternoon does not suddenly make a player worth that kind of money, we have seen enough false dawns to know better than to get carried away.

But that is not the point.

The point is that Celtic should be looking to develop players like Osmand into valuable assets rather than treating them as temporary solutions until the next transfer window. If he can stay fit, earn regular minutes and produce consistently in the Premiership and Europe, there is no reason why his value could not rise significantly over the coming seasons.

The key word, of course, is if.

His injury record remains a concern, and Sunday’s performance needs to be the beginning of a run rather than another isolated moment. He must now prove he can stay available, handle the physical demands of senior football and deliver when teams stop giving Celtic the space that Hearts did.

That is the next challenge.

Martin O’Neill also has a role to play. Young players cannot develop properly if they are only trusted when the squad is short of options. If Osmand has shown enough in training and on the pitch to deserve opportunities, then Celtic must give him the chance to build on this performance.

We cannot keep talking about having one of the best development pathways in Scotland and then wonder why young players struggle to break through.

Osmand has given us a reason to be excited. Now we need to see what happens when he gets a genuine run in the team.

Sunday was a reminder of what Celtic can achieve when our attacking players move with confidence, play forward and attack the penalty area with conviction. The 7-1 scoreline will grab the headlines, but Osmand’s emergence could prove just as significant if he can build on it.

We have no idea whether he will ever command £30 million. Nobody does at this stage.

But every major sale starts somewhere, and sometimes it starts with a young player taking his opportunity in a big game and making people sit up and pay attention.

Callum Osmand has done that.

Now Celtic must make sure we give him the platform to become the player we hope he can be.

Because if he can stay fit, keep scoring and turn potential into consistency, we might not just have found another useful striker.

We might have found our next major asset — and a player capable of leading the line for Celtic before somebody comes calling with the kind of money that changes everything.