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Celtic youth team from Real Madrid to Porto Alegre

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Celtic’s youth side wrap up their season at the Spax Cup this morning against Porto Alegre.

The match, which kicks off at 10.40am BST, can be watched live on the link below but it’s unlikely that Stevie Frail’s side will be at their best as a combination of heat, fatigue and travel takes it’s toll.

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Over the last fortnight the squad has been in action in Geneva, Hong Kong and now in Ennepetal without James Forrest and Richie Towell who are on international duty with Scotland and Ireland.

Three defeats to Wolfsburg, Anderlecht and Borussia Moenchengladbach have been harsh on the side that started the season finishing runners up to Liverpool in the final of the Villarreal Tournament which included penalty shoot-out wins over Real Madrid and AC Milan.

In-between times they did win the domestic double with the highlight being a 2-0 win over Rangers at Hampden in front of an enthusiastic Celtic support desperate to enjoy some cheer in a season littered with disappointments.

The SPL title was won with an impressive eleven point margin thanks largely to finishing the season with a nine game winning run highlighted by Greig Spence scoring the only goal of the match away to Rangers which put Celtic in control in the title race.

Youth football isn’t only about winning although it does breed the habits required of Celtic first team players, in James Forrest hopefully the club has found the best of both worlds.

After scoring on his Celtic debut in the end of season game against Motherwell Neil Lennon claimed that Forrest’s potential frightened the life out of him.

Forrest has pace to burn, knows the way to goal and is at his best driving at defenders from deep positions.

Getting a full pre-season under his belt with the first team in July should give him the resilience to go on to build on the promise shown this season.

Richie Towell is probably the next player most likely to break into the first team squad with his energy, enthusiasm and will to win equally effective in central midfield or at right-back.

Out of the rest of the squad James Keatings, a pacy wide player or busy central midfielder, and Declan Gallagher, a rugged defender that’s very comfortable on the ball, are probably closest to moving up a level although others in the squad are capable of taking any chance that they are given.

Critical to the players development is handling the gap between u-19 football and playing in the first team.

With no sign of reserve football returning it looks likely that players will have to be sent out on loan to advance their first team chances.

The loan market can be a lottery with the ideal scenario being to emulate the position that Simon Ferry has found at Swindon where he quickly became a regular in a successful side.

All of those decisions will be taken during August as the new manager looks at his squad in tandem with the Youth Academy coaches to decide the best way forward.

This morning in Ennepetal it will be the end of one journey for some of those players, hopefully the next steps will see some of them follow Forrest in the footsteps of Aiden McGeady and Stephen McManus to winning titles and scoring in the Champions League.

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