Last Saturday’s u-19 win over Motherwell was the first time that I’ve seen Filip Twardzik playing and the 16-year-old midfielder made a great impression.
Despite competing against players a few years older and in conditions best described as ‘typically Scottish’ Filip had the technique and physique to impress throughout the game playing in the centre of midfield.
Alongside Calum Bagshaw, Filip imposed himself on the midfield and was always available to take a pass or to thread the ball wide to James Forrest or James Keatings.
In the final minutes of the match Filip was joined by his brother Patrik who is a striker with both boys making an impact on a visit to Scotland from their German base.
BERLIN
The Twardzik brothers arrived at Celtic in January from Hertha Berlin with the Celtic Academy delighted by the progress that both players are making.
Youth coach Stevie Frail explained: “Both boys are u-17 internationalists for the Czech Republic, they were in Germany when we were alerted to them and will have been in our academy for a year in January.
“Filip showed against Motherwell what he’s capable of, he’s an all round good footballer just as comfortable at left-back, left midfield, left centre-back or in the middle of the park.
“We were interested to see how he would react when Motherwell equalised on a howling day. He had a wee wobble like the rest of the team but dug in and showed everyone what a good player he is.”
IMPRESSED
Frail added: “The two boys were recommended to us, we took a look and were impressed with them, it’s great to have two exciting young Chech internationalists coming through the system.
“Their father is in Germany with their older brother at Karlsruhe and their mother is here looking after the twins. That shows real dedication on the part of the family.
“As a club we have to continually be on the look out for players that we can bring in and develop through to first team, we are looking throughout Europe and beyond for players.”
The twins older brother Dan is a goalkeeper at Karlsruhe while their father Rene played in goals for three different German clubs.
Celtic’s u-19 side are back in action on Saturday when they face Hamilton Accies at the new ground of Rutherglen Glencairn, or The Glens as they are better known.
The match kicks off at 11am which gives plenty of time to take in the 19’s match before heading along to watch the first team game against Kilmarnock.