Manchester City have signed Josh Adam from the Celtic Academy.
The midfielder joins Liam Morrison, who joined Bayern Munich last summer, in declining an offer to turn professional at Celtic despite progressing through the under-age ranks.
With millions being spent on player development, in terms of facilities and wages, and a tried and tested set up through loan transfers City and other English clubs are an attractive proposition to Scottish kids.
The Telegraph reports:
Manchester City have signed one of Scotland’s most highly-rated academy prospects, the 16-year-old attacking midfielder Josh Adam who will join from Celtic this summer after considerable interest from clubs in the Premier League and Bundesliga.
The teenager has been offered a scholarship at the club with a professional deal when he turns 17, one of a talented cohort of players coming from Scotland that have seen City turn their academy scouting attentions to a country which is transforming its development programmes.
Last season Celtic were forced to arrange friendly matches for their Development Squad who took part in the Glasgow Cup, SPFL Challenge Cup and five matches in the Reserve Cup.
Loan deals in Scotland are trickier to get right with only a handful of clubs in The Championship providing a full time set up and grass pitch.
Last summer Celtic signed Luca Connell, Jonathan Afolabi and Lee O’Connor from English clubs with all three suffering from a lack of game time.
On the other hand Celtic were able to sign Jeremy Frimpong from Manchester City and although the English side have a large sell-on clause in his contract the teenager made an instant impact on the Celtic first team.
