The good news for Celtic's simmering support is that their club has finally signed the one player that everyone else always knew they would.

When a deal for Adam Idah was finally thrashed out with Norwich on Monday evening it put to bed the worst kept secret of the summer transfer market and completed a negotiation which was only ever going to end in the manner that it did. With Idah’s return to Glasgow’s east end. All of which is perfectly well and good.

But it also does beg a blindingly obvious question now that the ink has dried on an agreement which might ultimately be worth a combined sum of around £9.5m - assuming Idah scores a hat-trick in the Champions League final while throwing a double six in the centre circle before kick-off. Or something like that. And yet, even though Celtic may never be required to pay out in full for the Republic of Ireland striker, it can hardly be said that chief executive Michael Nicholson has driven a hard bargain where this expensive, particular piece of business is concerned.

So really, it must be asked, was all this cat and mouse saga really worth so much of Celtic’s time? It was widely acknowledged more than two months ago that Scotland’s champions hoped to force the hand of Norwich by landing Idah on a permanent move for something in the region of £4m.

Having failed to hammer out a set price for the player when concluding the terms of his six month loan deal back in the last throes of the January sales, Nicholson and his negotiating team appear to have made an enormously costly error of judgement. In effect, it was Celtic who felt the thumb screws beginning to tighten from the moment Idah began looking like the kind of striker who might belong leading a Brendan Rodgers attack rather than one not good enough for a regular game at Carrow Road.

Adam Idah's Journey to Celtic

Idah might have looked like a bit of a hurried afterthought at the time, with his short term arrival being scrambled over the line so close to the end of a dreary, uninspiring transfer window. But the big man hit the ground running more quickly than few could have imagined, with the exception of Rodgers himself.

The Celtic boss gave his personal blessing and sanctioned the loan move in the first place after Idah’s name leapt off the page at him, when Rodgers was running through the list of potential recruits drawn up by Celtic’s recruitment department. Rodgers knew what Idah was likely to offer after seeing him up close and personal during his own time back down south in charge of Leicester City.

Of course, no-one likes to talk out loud about that period these days, There are some who would prefer it to be scrubbed from the history books altogether, now that Brendan is back in town adding to his trophy collection all over again.

But, regardless, Rodgers saw enough during his forgotten years at the King Power to be convinced that Idah was purpose built for Scotland’s Premiership and capable of adding genuine firepower to his squad. As is often the case, he was right. Idah didn’t just provide Celtic with a reliable back-up for Kyogo Furuhashi - and an obvious upgrade on Oh Hyeon-gyu - but he also emerged as the scorer of key goals in more than a few season defining moments.

Was the Transfer Worth It?

So exactly why Nicholson thought he could sell the South Korean to Genk for a fee in the region of £4.5m and then use that same sum to tempt Norwich into doing business was, on reflection, a bit of a head scratcher from the start. He must have known he’d have to dig a whole lot deeper in order to land his man but, while Celtic dithered in the boardroom, Rodgers was left to kick-off the new campaign undermanned and under-resourced.

That’s why the anger and frustration has been threatening to bubble over into the car park but at least Nicholson will have soothed some tempers now that Idah is finally back where he always wanted to be.

He shouldn’t allow himself to be lulled into a false sense of security, however, as this transfer was the easy one, along with the capture of Paulo Bernardo on a four year deal from Benfica. These arrivals mean Rodgers has finally beefed up his options for the campaign ahead but he’s still one striker lighter than he was during his own comeback season.

Future Moves For Celtic

With recent sales sanctioned for Oh, Liel Abada, Sead Haksabanovic and Bosun Lawal, Celtic may well have brought in more cash than they have allowed to leave through the revolving doors. All of which means the onus remains on Nicholson to start sprinkling some stardust on Rodgers squad ahead of a Champions League campaign which is calculated to swell the coffers by more than £40m when the new look set-up gets up and running.

Time and again, Rodgers has publicly demanded ‘quality’ reinforcements and he won’t settle kindly for anything less than that in what remains of the current transfer market. And that’s before he finds out if some Italians have made an offer that Celtic can’t possibly refuse for Matt O’Riley.

The future of the Denmark international remains swinging in the wind with Atalanta refusing to take no for an answer and the likes of Brighton and Southampton watching from the wings. If Celtic’s trigger price - somewhere north of £25m - is finally met then Rodgers will be left with a huge hole in the heart of his team. One which he fully appreciates will not be filled by the addition of just one more run of the mill midfield operator.

But the manager is also crying out for a full back to compete with Greg Taylor on the left hand side of his defence, a centre half who will provide Liam Scales with a similar challenge and is still short of a centre forward to complete his attacking options. He may even be looking for a winger of serious pedigree who can walk into his starting XI given that he now appears to be relying heavily on James Forrest, despite the veteran previously appearing to be deemed surplus to Rodgers’ requirements.

Nicholson has made heavy weather of this window so far and Idah has temporarily lifted some of the gloom. But there may still be a storm hurtling over the horizon if the next couple of weeks are not spent wisely.