Despite Celtic’s squad being bloated upon Brendan Rodgers’ arrival, the club needed to strengthen, which they did to the tune of 10 new additions in the summer transfer window.
With such a stacked squad, it will naturally be difficult to keep everyone happy and offer everyone the playing time that they desire.
The recent spate of injuries, however, has meant that several fringe players have seen far more game time than they may have expected.
ACSOM has been nominated for TWO awards at this year’s Football Content Awards. Vote for us HERE in the following categories – BEST PODCAST (International) & BEST CLUB CONTENT CREATOR (International):
Liam Scales
The Irishman has seen a resurgence at Celtic when the writing looked like it was on the wall for him. He was written off and wasn’t even in consideration for most supporters and pundits, but he has turned his career around with some commanding and gutsy performance in the last few weeks.
With the sheer amount of bodies that Celtic had on the treatment table, the team needed players to step up and Liam Scales has been one of the outstanding performers.
He was previously viewed as a limited player who would struggle against the better sides, but it has been in those games where he has produced his strongest performances this season. His displays against Rangers at Ibrox as well as a good performance in the loss away to Feyenoord has earned the trust of the fans to the point where it would be hard to see Scales lose his place with the return of those on the injury list.
Gustaf Lagerbielke
Lagerbielke was seemingly brought in with the intention of providing some much-needed depth in that centre-back position.
The Swede has seen far more game time than he would have expected at this stage of his Celtic career, and has formed a formidable partnership with Liam Scales, notching up four clean sheets in four domestic games when the two have started together.
He had his nervy moment in Europe, and Cameron Carter-Vickers will most likely be trusted to step in for the remaining Champions League games, but Lagerbielke has shown he is more than capable of deputising for Celtic in domestic football and will have a big part to play this season.
Yang Hyun-jun
The South Korean has impressed fans with his displays from the bench so far this season, but the long-term injury to Liel Abada has opened the door for more starting opportunities which Yang has been grabbing and running with so far. He will be challenged by Luis Palma, James Forrest, and even the returning Marco Tilio for that starting berth, but Yang could be in with a shout to start against Motherwell on Saturday.
Celtic has a plethora of wingers available at the club and they will all be vying to nail down Liel Abada’s starting position in the Israeli’s absence, and at this current moment, the 21-year-old looks best placed to do just that.
JAMES MCKENZIE // Follow James HERE
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.