The development of the young players in Celtic’s Academy has been often criticised, especially in recent years with the lack of high quality talent coming through and the lack of opportunities available with the Celtic first team. This has seen the likes of Ben Doak, Liam Morrison, Barry Hepburn and many more depart the club in search of opportunities elsewhere.
The current crop of talent in the Celtic B team includes several players who fans feel could make an impact at first-team level if afforded the right development opportunities early on. Celtic’s new partnership with Austrian side Admira Wacker has helped provide another avenue for the club’s Academy players to develop.
With doubts surrounding the effectiveness of Celtic’s second-string operating within the fifth-tier of Scottish football, the club has loaned out some of our prospects to aid their development, but who has gone where?
Adam Montgomery & Bosun Lawal to Fleetwood
Adam Montgomery has moved to Scott Brown’s Fleetwood Town for a season-long loan. After an impressive loan spell at St Johnstone last season which earned him a nomination for the PFA Scotland young player of the year, the Scotland U21 international will continue his development in the English League 1.
He will be joined there by Celtic B standout and Irish U21 cap and B team captain Bosun Lawal whose loan move to the Fishermen looks as though it will be confirmed in the coming days. There is no better manager for Bosun Lawal to learn and hone his leadership qualities under than one of Celtic’s most successful captains in Scott Brown. After getting his first minutes in Celtic’s senior team last season, Lawal will be looking to build upon further first-team opportunities and add himself to the current crop of young Irish talent breaking through.
Ben McPherson to Queen’s Park
Ben McPherson is a youngster who is clearly rated by Brendan Rodgers. After impressing for Celtic’s B team with his pace and energy, the right-back appeared in pre-season in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Portimonense where he notched an assist for Oh Hyeon-Gyu’s goal.
He had the option to head out on loan to Celtic’s affiliate club Admira Wacker, however, he opted to stay close to home and he joined Queen’s Park. The Spiders are an ambitious Championship club and Ben made his first appearance for them from the bench against Arbroath.
Ben Summers to Dunfermline
Summers is another promising player who saw some first-team minutes last season where he caught fans’ eyes in his albeit limited time on the park. Making two appearances last term and scoring against Portimonense in pre-season, left fans wondering whether Summers would be more involved in the first team.
Celtic’s 22/23 academy player of the year trained with the senior side and played his part in Celtic’s tour of Japan before heading out on loan to Championship side Dunfermline. With similar aims to the aforementioned Queen’s Park and a good coach in James McPake helping develop his game, if Summers receives consistent minutes then it could be a great move for his development.
Ones to watch
Tobi Oluwayemi and Matthew Anderson are two who could still have loan moves ahead of them. Oluwayemi spent the latter stages of last season on loan at Irish side Cork City where injuries prevented him from getting the valuable first team minutes he had gone there in search of.
Matthew Anderson was name-checked by Ange Postecoglou as a promising player and both were linked with moves to Admira Wacker on loan but those links have dried up.
The intention is clearly with the club to get more minutes for the pair at a higher level so don’t be surprised to see both of them head out on loan this season.
JAMES MCKENZIE
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