According to figures highlighted by the Glasgow Times from the latest CIES Football Observatory report, Celtic have been ranked well ahead of Rangers for transfer value growth across world football.

Celtic are ranked 28th on the list, with CIES calculating their transfer appreciation at €216 million, around £183 million.

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That figure is split between €101 million from players who have already left the club and €115 million from players still under contract.

Rangers are the only other Scottish club included in the ranking, with their transfer appreciation listed at €96 million, around £81 million.

That leaves Celtic more than £100 million ahead of their Glasgow rivals in this particular CIES measure.

This is not a simple ranking of who has spent the most or who has the strongest squad.

CIES are looking at the gap between what clubs paid for players and what those players have either been sold for or are now valued at if they remain at the club.

For Celtic, it points to the strength of the player trading model over recent years.

The club have regularly bought players with resale value in mind, developed them, and either sold them on for profit or retained them as valuable squad assets.

The report also places Celtic ahead of several major European clubs in this specific category, including Chelsea, Newcastle and Juventus.

That does not mean Celtic are operating at the same financial level as those clubs, but it does show how strongly the club perform when judged on value created from transfer activity.

Celtic supporters will have their own views on how the club use transfer income, especially after recent frustration around recruitment and squad planning.

But this report shows why Celtic’s model continues to attract attention.

The debate is not whether Celtic can develop value.

The bigger question is whether enough of that value is being turned into stronger squads at the right moments, particularly when Champions League qualification and European progress are on the line.

On the numbers in this CIES report, Celtic remain well clear of the rest of Scottish football when it comes to transfer value growth.