Five young Celt’s that are ready for the Champions League
Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor and Liam Henderson will never be talked about in the same terms as Kenny Dalglish, Danny McGrain and Lou Macari but it’s the initial trio that Brendan Rodgers will be turning to on Wednesday night against Lincoln Red Imps.
Last week’s defeat in Gibraltar has put the pressure on the Celtic boss who has to decide if he can trust the experienced players at the club to turn the tie around or whether the young and fearless stand a better chance of success.
Managers stand or fall by those type of decisions but Rodgers does at least have some options to think over rather than hoping for the best with a squad of players that he inherited.
It was no surprise that Callum McGregor scored on Saturday against Wolfsborg. He scored the first goal of the Ronny Deila reign two years ago in Iceland and has hardly stopped scoring since then.
Whether he’ll get a place ahead of more established names remains to be seen but if Rodgers does go with the 23-year-old he can be fairly certain in what he is getting- a 7 out of 10 performer happy to push in behind defences and take a pop at goal.
With Moussa Dembele challenging Leigh Griffiths for a place Kierran Tierney
is virtually the first pick outfield player.
The teenage left-back signalled his arrival 10 months ago against Fenerbahce in the Europa League and will be out to ensure that last week’s defeat was a one off.
Tierney is now the standard bearer for the Celtic Academy with the current crop being pushed to see if they can do a KT and break through into the first team to stay.
With a £12m price tag Patrick Roberts is the most valuable player in the Celtic squad
but European football will still be a new experience for the on-loan Man City kid.
It was a surprise to most fans when he sat out last week’s first leg defeat from Lincoln Red Imps- it would be a major shock if he doesn’t start the return leg.
With his skill and trickery, understanding with Griffiths and nose for goal Wednesday’s match should be the perfect platform for Roberts to showcase his ability.
His signing in January came with a Champions League promise- getting to that stage is the aim with Roberts having more reason than most for wanting to reach the European big time.
As the final signing of the Ronny Deila regime, and a Norwegian,
things looked pretty gloomy for Ajer
as he prepared to make the move to Glasgow.
Midfield is one are of the park that Celtic are well covered in, many fans would say too well covered, but Ajer has taken a step back into defence to make his mark.
There are plenty of rough edges but also plenty of areas to work on and improve in with Rodgers clearly taken by the presence and versatility of the former Start skipper.
Lincoln Red Imps shouldn’t unduly Stretch Ajer if he is selected- judging whether he is ready for more demanding Champions League ties is the bigger call for the Celtic boss to make.
He only turned 20 in April but it’s easy to think that Liam Henderson
has been around for much longer.
His season at Hibs highlighted the inconsistencies that you’d expect in a teenager- and also the ability to rise to the occasion when big personalities are needed.
Henderson’s passing ability is up there with Scott Allan, feeding balls forward to Roberts, Griffiths and Dembele wouldn’t be a problem.
It would require a really careful loan to improve on the experiences that Henderson has already picked up- hopefully it’ll be Celtic fans watching his progress on a week to week basis.