Paul George’s competitive debut at Ross County may have taken some supporters by surprise but the 17-year-old from County Down has been on the radar for some time as a potential first team player.
With Islam Feruz attracting most of the mainstream attention Georgie has buckled down, listened to his coaches and started to blossom into the type of player capable of making a significant first team contribution.
Shaping his undeniable talent to benefit the team has been the main task of the Celtic coaches, mindful not to curb any of his natural ability. George can play in any of the forward positions, loves taking on and beating defenders and despite last night’s slip up knows how to tuck away half chances.
After beating Dundee United 5-0 earlier this month youth coach John Kennedy explained how he likes his players to express themselves.
He said: “We can’t be too robotic with them and ask them to stick to one area of the pitch. We want to be fluid to cause teams problems and encourage them to express themselves in the right areas of the pitch.
“We encourage them to move the ball around quickly because that’s what the best teams do. There were a lot of good performances, I thought that in the first half Filip (Twardzik) was outstanding, his ball retention was excellent along with others.
“Paul George is getting into good areas and using the ball quicker rather than hanging onto it. When they play that way there’s not many teams that will be able to contain them.”
In the spirit of others such as Scott McDonald, George can be a very ‘demanding’ team mate, setting the same high standards of his team mates as he does for himself.
Celtic had to move fast to capture his signature with Irish football extensively scouted by clubs from England. Although Celtic was his club of choice the club had to demonstrate that they had the infrastructure to allow the player to develop when it came to commiting his career.
At the age of 14 he moved to schooling in Scotland as Celtic stepped up the training and development programme while carefully shielding him from the hype that Feruz’s circumstances inevitably attracted.
In May 2010 George made a substitute appearance in the first team friendly with AZ Alkmaar while the Celtic u-19’s were beating Rangers at Hampden to lift the SFA Youth Cup. Three days later he made his u-19 debut in the final league game of the season away to Hearts.
After the game at Hearts Stevie Frail said: “Paul made his debut at a very young age, we need to temper it a little bit due to circumstances but he still got his chance.
“He only got 15 minutes but the excitement from Wednesday night would take it’s toll and we only gave him an hour today.
“Paul is an exciting winger, he can play on both sides and we’re pleased for him.”
Almost a year ago George turned in an outstanding performance scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 Glasgow Cup win over Rangers after goalkeeper James Whiteman had been sent off, Joe Chalmers was the other Celtic scorer.
Appearances in the u-19 side were infrequent with an ankle injury halting his progress in mid season. In March he made his Republic of Ireland debut, scoring as a substitute for the u-17s in a 2-2 draw with Denmark then netting in the 1-1 draw with Greece to mark his arrival on the international scene.
“Our purpose it to create a Champions League player,” former Motherwell defender McCart explained after George’s international debut. “Exposing Paul to international football helps. He gets experience of playing against foreign teams, travelling and all the ingredients that it takes to be a Champions League player.
“You’ve got to try and replicate that and that’s something that international football does.
“We’re not surprised that he’s made a big impact. This is his first time as part of the set up which can be difficult for him because he doesn’t know the other boys that well.
“He’s got to settle in and it’s a big move coming from the north, there’s a bit of a spotlight on him, his profile will be higher but John Morning (Ireland’s u-17 coach) has told me that he’s handled it very well.
“We want to attract the best players to Celtic and if they are the best then they should be internationalists.”
At the end of last season George scored the winning goal in the Glasgow Cup Final against Rangers and was given the number 50 when the club listed it’s players to the SPL for the new season.
Alongside Dylan McGeough he appears to be the most likely of the current u-19 side to be pushing for first team involvement although others such as Marcus Fraser and Tony Watt will hold similar ambitions.
Hopefully last night was the start of something special for George but mindful of past headlines his career will be guided in the same low key manner as James Forrest.
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Demanding is more accurate than moaning, he’s a winner, driven and determined the qualities that the best players don’t compromise.
Joe,
The only “objection ” I had to Paul’s appearance last night…was the timing.
Hopefully it got him a win bonus and that’s why it was done…no problem with that….
But I’m totally aginst “two minute cameo ” appearances….unless it’s absolutely necessary.
The boy seems to be well thought of…so here’s hoping for good things to come.
Reading between the lines ….is he a bit of a “moaner” on the park…( like Skippy)….??
Just wondered.
Sounds like me Joe….Thanks….:0)
Another young lad from the North opting to play for the Republic of Ireland. Good on you son.
I can see he will be popular.
Saw him against Barca the other week and thought he was terrific.can see big things for the boy.
Best article I’ve seen on this site. And by the way I had no idea he was 17! Forrest was 19 IIRC when he made his debut so this kid could be something spectacular especially after his performance against Barca where I’m pretty sure him and Watt were tied for best dribbler on the pitch.