Celtic teenager tipped for first-team future after sealing East Kilbride loan | OneFootball

East Kilbride boss Mick Kennedy believes Celtic youngster Liam Kennedy is the “next real rising star” at Parkhead after securing the teenager on a co-operation loan.

Liam Kennedy of Celtic FC. Sporting Lisbon v Celtic, Pre Season Friendly, Football, Estadio Algarve, Portugal – 14 Jul 2026Algarve Estadio Algarve Portugal Photo: Zed Jameson/Shutterstock

The 17-year-old, who is no relation to the Kilby manager, moved to K-Park last week alongside Hoops goalkeeper Marcus Gill as part of the League One club’s agreement with Celtic.

Kennedy joins fellow Celtic youngster Rhys Dargie at East Kilbride and is expected to gain valuable experience of senior football over the coming months.

The highly-rated prospect was name-checked by Martin O’Neill last month, with the Celtic boss describing him as a “really good footballer”.

And East Kilbride manager Kennedy is convinced the teenager has the potential to eventually break into the Hoops first team.

He told Daily Record: “Liam is probably the next real rising star at Celtic. He is one I imagine will definitely be earmarked for the first team at some point.

“He is an outstanding talent at only 17 so I am delighted to have him on board.

“He didn’t play on Saturday [in a 1-0 defeat to Hamilton Accies] because he has only watched training on the Thursday, so we didn’t want to throw him in too early.

“But he will definitely get on against Peterhead and the plan is to integrate him into our team.

“He is more than capable of playing in League One comfortably, he is a top, top player.

“He is such a talented kid and we are very fortunate that we have got him, to be honest, so we are very grateful to Celtic trusting us with his development.

“Even within Celtic I believe he is the next one earmarked to come through their system.”

Kennedy is expected to make his East Kilbride debut against Peterhead on Saturday as Celtic look to use the co-operation agreement to accelerate his development through regular exposure to first-team football.

He was one of four new arrivals at K-Park last week alongside Gill, midfielder Euan East and striker Callum McKenzie, with the latter pair making their debuts in the defeat to Hamilton.

Discussing the other additions, Kennedy said: “We are delighted to get Marcus in. He is a top goalkeeper we have know from playing Celtic B over the years.

“Callum is someone we knew from his time at Broomhill.

“We have been actively trying to get a centre forward in and we missed out on one or two due to finances and things like that, so we had to move on.

“We knew Callum was coming back from Australia so it is the perfect fit to bring him in.

“And Euan is someone we spoke to a lot over the summer. He had other options and it is just circumstances in the end that means we will have him until January.

“He plans to come in for a few months and hopefully find something better financially, but he will help us at a real difficult time in terms of injuries.

“All of these new players give the squad that bit of depth again.”

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