I think it is high time we had a proper conversation about Kasper Høgh. Not because I want to defend every performance he has produced in a Celtic shirt, and not because I think supporters should stop asking difficult questions about an £11 million striker.

Quite the opposite. I think we should keep asking questions about that £11 million.

I just think we should be asking them of the right people.

Kasper Høgh did not decide his own transfer fee. He did not sit around a table with Celtic’s recruitment department, produce his own valuation and insist that the club spend whatever figure appeared on the piece of paper.

Celtic decided what he was worth. Celtic identified him. Celtic evaluated him. Celtic decided that his particular qualities were worth a major investment.

So, if supporters, and others, want to talk about the money, fine. But don’t ask Kasper Høgh to justify why Celtic spent £11 million on him.

Ask Celtic to justify why they spent £11 million on a striker whose strengths they still appear incapable of properly exploiting.

That is the real question.

Because when a football club spends that kind of money on a player, it is not simply buying talent. It is making a major strategic decision.

It is saying that this player’s attributes suit the team we are building, that his movement fits the football we want to play and that the people around him will be capable of creating the situations in which he is most effective.

If none of that is true, then somebody has made a very expensive mistake.

And it wasn’t Kasper Høgh.

I still want goals from him. Of course I do. He is a centre-forward, and centre-forwards are ultimately going to be judged by how often they put the ball in the net. There is no point pretending otherwise.

But that does not mean a striker operates in isolation.

Høgh is not an entire attacking system. He is not supposed to be a one-man football department. He cannot spend 90 minutes wrestling with two centre-halves, receiving poor service and waiting for somebody to remember that Celtic are supposed to be playing attacking football, then be held personally responsible when the chances never arrive.

That is not how football works.

A striker needs movement around him. He needs service. He needs teammates who recognise the runs he makes. He needs the team to create the kind of opportunities which suit the qualities that made Celtic spend so much money on him in the first place.

And this is where I think the conversation about Høgh becomes much more interesting.

What exactly did Celtic think they were buying? Did they scout the player? Or did they scout the numbers? Because there is a difference.

It is one thing to look at a striker’s goals, physical profile and statistics and decide that he is productive. It is another thing entirely to understand how those goals were created, what kind of football allowed him to flourish and whether your own team is capable of reproducing those conditions.

That is what good recruitment is supposed to be about.

Not simply identifying a good footballer. Identifying the right footballer.

And Celtic’s recent recruitment record gives supporters every reason to ask whether enough thought goes into that distinction.

We have seen too many players arrive who seem to fit no obvious plan. Too many good footballers who appear less effective once they get here. Too many individuals who look as though they belong in completely different versions of the same team.

Kasper Høgh may simply be the most expensive example of that problem.

That is why I do not want supporters to forget his transfer fee. I want us to remember every penny of it. But I want the responsibility placed where it belongs.

If Celtic spend more than £11 million on a specialist striker, then Celtic have a responsibility to build an attack that uses him properly.

If they cannot do that, then the problem is not simply that Høgh has failed to justify the fee.

The problem is that the club has failed to justify spending it. That is a very different argument. I also think this changes what we mean when we talk about supporting a player.

Support is not simply applause. It is not pretending every performance is brilliant. It is not lowering standards. The best support Celtic can give Kasper Høgh is utilisation.

Put him in a team which makes sense for him. Give him service.

Create movement around him. Use his physical presence intelligently. Get players close enough to him that he is not fighting an entire defence by himself.

Give him the conditions to succeed. Then judge him properly.

That is fair.

And I would say the same to supporters. Criticise him when he misses chances. Criticise poor performances. Demand goals. Demand improvement.

That is part of playing for Celtic.

But don’t treat the transfer fee as though it is some personal debt he has to repay every Saturday afternoon. He didn’t negotiate it. He didn’t approve it.

He didn’t construct the system he is playing in.

The people who did those things should be answering the bigger questions.

I was pleased to see Høgh receive positive recognition after the Kilmarnock game, particularly after the frustration of having his goal ruled out. That kind of moment matters for a striker. Confidence matters.

But confidence is not going to solve everything on its own. Celtic still have to solve the structural problem around him.

They have to decide what kind of striker he is supposed to be for this team and then build the football around that decision.

Because otherwise we are going to end up doing what Celtic too often does.

Buying a footballer. Failing to create the conditions for him to thrive. Then blaming the footballer when the plan doesn’t work.

And that is why I think the £11 million conversation needs to change.

The number matters. It matters a lot. But it is not a number Kasper Høgh should be frightened of. It is a number Celtic should be accountable for.

If you spend £11 million on a striker, you had better know why you are spending it. You had better know how you are going to use him. And you had better have a plan which gives him every chance to succeed.

If Celtic cannot answer those questions, then Kasper Høgh isn’t the £11 million problem.

The people who signed him are.

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