There will be plenty of Celtic supporters who had barely heard the name Joel van den Berg before the final days of the transfer window, but there is a fair bit more to his story than his relatively modest number of PSV first-team appearances would suggest.
The 19-year-old has arrived in Glasgow from Eindhoven in a deal reported to be worth around £3.4million, with Celtic clearly convinced they are getting him before his real breakthrough has happened.
Van den Berg was born in Houten in February 2007 and started out with local side SV Houten. His route through Dutch academy football was far from straightforward.
Both PSV and FC Utrecht passed on him when he was younger before Ajax took him into their academy at ten. He spent three years there, initially playing as a striker, but Ajax eventually decided not to keep him.
Van den Berg moved on to Vitesse and, by the time he established himself there, had shifted away from the forward role he occupied in Amsterdam and was developing as a central midfielder.
That spell proved important.
At just 15, he was already being taken on first-team training camps by Vitesse, while the 2022/23 season saw him play a major part in an outstanding Under-16 side.
The most eye-catching moment came against Ajax.
Vitesse beat them 5-1 in the national title decider and Van den Berg scored a hat-trick against the club that had released him. Four days later, Vitesse beat Ajax again to win the Dutch Under-16 Cup and complete the double.
PSV had seen enough.
The same club that had overlooked him as a boy came back in for him in the summer of 2023, taking him from Vitesse and immediately putting him on a professional contract.
Van den Berg initially joined PSV’s Under-18s, but his progress continued quickly. He won the Otten Innovation Cup with PSV in 2023 and again the following year, scoring the decisive penalty in the shootout against Atletico Madrid in the 2024 final.
His first taste of senior football arrived with Jong PSV, who compete in the Dutch second tier rather than a conventional reserve league.
Van den Berg made his professional debut against ADO Den Haag in May 2024 and scored the winning goal. PSV then extended his contract until 2028 in April 2025, another sign of how highly they regarded his development.
Last season was when he properly kicked on.
The youngster started all 26 of his Eerste Divisie appearances for Jong PSV, scoring seven goals, with PSV crediting him with four assists.
That output is useful when trying to understand the type of midfielder Celtic have signed.
PSV list him as a number eight, and their own academy staff have highlighted his physicality, defending, game intelligence and passing. At 6ft 1″, he also has the size to compete physically, but he is not simply there to break play up and move the ball five yards.
Van den Berg sees himself as a box-to-box midfielder and likes to get forward.
He has spoken about watching Kevin De Bruyne, while his time around PSV’s first team also allowed him to learn from the likes of Ismael Saibari, Joey Veerman and Jerdy Schouten.
His senior PSV debut came against Groningen in August 2025. By April this year, he was trusted with his first Eredivisie start against PEC Zwolle, playing the full 90 minutes in a 6-1 win.
Van den Berg left PSV with six competitive first-team appearances, five in the league and one in the Dutch Cup.
He also began this season well with Jong PSV, scoring twice in his opening three Eerste Divisie matches before Celtic made their move.
Away from club football, he has worked his way through the Netherlands youth setup and has captained his country at age-group level. He has represented the Dutch at Under-16, Under-18 and Under-19 level.
That is why the fee makes more sense when you look beyond the headline number of senior PSV appearances.
Celtic are not buying an established Eredivisie midfielder. They are buying a player who had become a major figure for Jong PSV, had recently forced his way into Peter Bosz’s senior plans and was tied down in Eindhoven until 2028.
The more interesting part of Van den Berg’s story is how often he has already had to earn another look.
PSV passed on him as a boy. Ajax eventually let him go. He rebuilt his reputation at Vitesse, scored a hat-trick against his former club to win a national title and persuaded PSV to come back for him.
Now Celtic are betting that the next jump in his career happens in Glasgow.
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