Smaller first team squad, more opportunities for Celtic Academy stars | OneFootball

One of the greatest frustrations in recent years at Celtic is the inability to not only keep our top youth prospects, but fail to see any of them break through and become a first team regular…

Sean McArdle. Aberdeen 1-5 Celtic. Photo Vagelis Georgariou (The Celtic Star)

Club captain Callum McGregor is an exemption as is our most decorated player James Forrest, our ‘brickie’ Anthony Ralston and of course the returning Kieran Tierney who have all made the successful jump from youth player to first team regular, but that’s as good as it’s got in recent times.

Those past few years has seen the likes of Ben Doak, Rocco Vata, and Daniel Kelly look likely to break that mould, but unfortunately for us they decided to seek the riches on offer elsewhere, perhaps on the advice of their agents.

3rd May 2023 Hampden Scottish FA Youth Cup Final, theRangers versus Celtic Mitchel Frame of Celtic celebrates scoring Photo ActionPlus Vagelis Georgariou

In the present youth set up the likes of Mitchel Frame, Sean McArdle, Francis Turley and Kyle Urie look very promising and have all played a part in pre season under Brendan Rodgers, but whether they are good enough to make the leap from youth level to first team level is another matter altogether.

The only way they are going to get that opportunity is if they play regular or are in and around the first team on a weekly basis.

All the three players mentioned ply their trades in areas of the pitch that are in need of strengthening, but if Brendan were to give all three a permanent place in the squad then there would be a barrage of criticism for not spending big money.

Daniel Cummings, Arne Engels and Brendan Rodgers, Manager of Celtic, applauds the fans after the team’s defeat during the UEFA Champions League match between Aston Villa and Celtic at Villa Park on January 29, 2025. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Recent examples are Dane Murray and Daniel Cummings both of whom were thrown in against Aston Villa on the biggest stage of all, which led to an uproar from an element of our supporters in regards to our squad depth, the very same element who regularly criticise our reluctance to give youth a chance!

And for Cummings those minutes at Villa Park were all his first team Celtic career would amount to as he opted to Join West Ham United at the end of his Celtic contract last month, following in the footsteps of Doak, Vata and Kelly in preferring to move south rather than play for the club they support.

Youngsters need more exposure to the first team to make the grade, but it would mean at the expense of new faces being brought in, making it very much a case of dammed if you do and damned if you don’t for Brendan Rodgers, who has always insisted that places in the first team have to be earned and not given away cheaply.

Celtic B team v Atletico Madrid – Francis Turley during the UEFA Youth League match between Celtic B team and Atletico Madrid at the City Stadium, on 25 October 2023. Photo Colin Poultney PSI

The Celtic manager inherited a first team squad that was way too large in June 2023, with som many signings coming in during that window that Rodgers had little or nothing to do with. He vowed to work with what he’d been given and all were given minutes to prove themselves up to the task of wearing the Hoops.

That meant that opportunities for the younger players were few and far between but in the second half of last season we saw this begin to chance. Francis Turley, Daniel Cummings and Sean McArdle all made their Celtic debuts last season, as indeed did Johnny Kenny.

With Rodgers moving to smaller squad this perhaps will open the door for more Celtic Academy talent to be given their chance and players like Turley and McArdle to perhaps get their first starts.

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