Twelve months ago Tony Watt was just another kid starting to catch the eye, doubling up as the free scoring striker for the Airdrie youth side and getting the occasional run out with the first team.
Scoring as a 16-year-old on his senior debut away to East Fife alerted the football grapevine with a week’s trial with Liverpool arranged as scouts started to take notice of the bustling striker.
In November Celtic’s interest became known when he played in a 3-1 win against Liverpool in a trial match for the Next Gen Series.
On Monday night Watt was a key element in Celtic’s 4-2 win at Manchester City having also scored against Barcelona and found the net for the Scotland u-19 side against Wales.
Celtic haven’t been renowned for bringing physical strikers through the ranks but anyone who has watched the Coatbridge bhoy in action will know that Watt is certainly in the ‘he’s got a chance’ category.
“I’m maybe unusual as a striker, I like playing just one up front,” he explained. “It gives you freedom and I don’t get mixed up with other strikers, there are two players pushing up front so it’s really like a three when we’re attacking and they’ll drop back when we don’t have possession.
“It was a class performance against Manchester City, to win against a team like that are spending unbelievable money on players is a great achievement.
“When you look around at the players in our team you can see where our confidence comes from. John Herron has scored four goals in four games, Paul George is on fire just now and has been with the first team. He scored two against City and set me up for my goal and the whole squad contributed to the result.
“We need to win our home games with Manchester City and Marseilles which will give us nine points and we’ll see what else happens in the group. We’re a good side and could have taken something from the Barcelona match.
“Every one of us is looking forward to playing at Celtic Park again, that’s our club stadium and a good experience.
“I made my debut at Celtic Park almost a year ago. We beat Liverpool on November 2 and that game was a pilot match for the Next Gen competition. Before that I had been down on trial at Liverpool and I’m pleased with how things have developed.
“If you play well and score it breeds confidence. If I can do well for the u-19’s I hope to get a few development games and see where it takes me.”
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PLAY THEM ALL GO FOR IT REMEMBER HAY MCGRAIN MACARI CONNOLLY DALGLISH RITCHIE DAVIDSON PAT MCMAHON JACKIE MCNAMARA SNR ETC ALL WITHIN 4 YEARS
Why not give him a run out? He simply cannot be any worse than what we have been playing for months. Don’t need to play him every week! A substitutes appearance after an hour the odd start might be the making of a player.