A “lost” midfielder who earns more than Iwata has drained Celtic.

Since bringing him to the club, the Hoops have thrown money away.

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers returned to the club last summer after former manager Ange Postecoglou left.

The Australian head coach had a fantastic two seasons at Parkhead, winning five trophies and doing admirably in the transfer market.

He used his expertise of Asian football to recruit Daizen Maeda and Kyogo Furuhashi, among others, while also signing Jota and Alistair Johnston.

However, the current Tottenham manager made a mistake when he decided to bring in James McCarthy from the British market in the summer of 2021.

How much did Celtic pay to sign James McCarthy

The Hoops swooped to capture the central midfielder on a free transfer ahead of the 2021/22 season, after his contract with Crystal Palace expired earlier that summer.

Celtic signed Joe Hart and McCarthy on the same day, and Postecoglou touted them as “top-class” players, however only one has proven this to be true.

The former England international shot-stopper has 61 clean sheets in 148 appearances for the club in all competitions and was included in PFA Scotland’s Team of the Year last season.

McCarthy, as shown in the table above, arrived at Parkhead following a poor Premier League season with Palace, with unremarkable numbers both in and out of possession.

His terrible form carried over to his tenure in Scotland, and Celtic  has been drained by the midfielder since joining the club in 2021, with his salary flowing down the drain with little return.

How much James McCarthy is going to cost in salaries

By the end of this season, the Hoops will have paid McCarthy around £2.18 million in salary, or £728k per season, based on a weekly wage of £14k.

In that time, the 33-year-old veteran has only made 27 first-team appearances for Scotland, starting only four games in the Scottish Premiership.

Former Celtic player Frank McAvennie criticised the former Ireland international as looking “lost” and not match “fit” in October 2022, which is reflected in his lack of action on the pitch, with only two league appearances and zero starts since the start of last season.

His £14,000-per-week salary is higher than Tomoki Iwata’s (£7.6k) at the present, despite the Japanese midfielder developing as a vital player for Rodgers.

The 27-year-old ace has made 20 appearances for the club in all competitions this season and started nine league games, implying that he is considerably more important to the team than McCarthy, who has yet to play a minute of Premier League action this season.

since a result, Celtic have been drained by the midfield dud, who has 0 goals and zero assists in 12 league games for the club, since he has not done enough on the field to warrant the millions of pounds spent on his pay over the last three seasons.

With one year remaining on his present deal at Parkhead this summer, the Hoops may want to look to offload him permanently to avoid paying him another £728k over the following 12 months.

In other news, Brendan Rodgers has a plea for the Celtic supporters who will support their team against Hearts.