Neil Lennon has confirmed that Celtic have signed Jonathan Afolabi.
The 19-year-old was released by Southampton at the end of last season but impressed for Ireland, alongside Barry Coffey, in the recent u-19 European Championship Finals.
Afolabi has mainly played as a winger but Celtic already seem well served in that area of the park with Lewis Morgan, Mikey Johnston, Marian Shved, Armstrong Oko-Flex and Karamoke Dembele all looking for first team football alongside James Forrest.
Speaking after the Betfred Cup Final win over Dunfermline Lennon told The Sun:
He’s here. He’s a young lad from Southampton, we’ve signed him on a free transfer and he’s one for development. I think it’s a two-year deal.
He’s on the cusp, so he’ll come in and train with us and we’ll get a good look at him in the next couple of weeks. Then we’ll decide what we want to do with him in terms of where his progression is. He had a great tournament in the Euros. He’s raw, but we feel he has good potential.
After losing out on penalties to Falkirk in the Tunnocks Challenge Cup Celtic’s reserve side have a schedule of one competitive match a month coming up starting away to Dundee on August 27 followed by Morton on September 24 and Dunfermline on October 22.
Despite various initiatives such as Project Brave there is no form of competitive football for players beyond u-18 which has left a number of players in limbo.
Last season Stephen Welsh, Jack Aitchison, Robbie Deas and Daniel Church were playing u-19 for Scotland, this term Deas and Church are out on loan at Alloa and East Fife while others are left to train without the prospect of regular matches.