Jackson Irvine’s big money transfer from Burton Albion to Hull City put the spotlight back on Celtic and the club’s youth academy.
While some supporters wonder why he never made the breakthrough at Celtic others used the transfer to highlight the quality that comes through the ranks at Lennoxtown and Barrowfield.
Unfortunately for Irvine he emerged at Celtic at a stage when the club was overloaded with quality midfielders- something that holds true to the current side.
From Victor Wanyama, Joe Ledley and Beram Kayal through Stefan Johansen to Stuart Armstrong, Tom Rogic and Callum McGregor Celtic have never been short of midfielders with Scott Brown staying the course
McGregor has been the only midfielder from Irvine’s time to make the breakthrough but he too was a late bloomer and could easily have slipped away if Ronny Deila hadn’t drafted him into the side when he took over from Neil Lennon.
Irvine wasn’t much of a goalscorer at Celtic but after a difficult loan spell at Kilmarnock his game flourished at Ross County although there wasn’t many calls for him to be brought back to Celtic.
His subsequent career shows that there are no guarantees in the game, it’s all about taking advantage of circumstances. While Irvine has grasped the opportunities coming his way a couple of his former Celtic youth team-mates are almost of the scrapheap including Filip Twardzik who looked the brightest prospect of them all.