During December Owen Moffat and Joey Dawson have stepped up from the B team in the Lowland League to the demands of the SPFL Premiership.
At the start of the season Dane Murray played home and away against Midtjylland in the Europa League. Tobi Oluwayemi and Ben Doak have recently made it onto the bench.
At the start of 2021 those four players were virtually unknown, in the next 12 months their progress will be more closely watched with Celtic fans looking out to see who will be next to come through the ranks.
The encouragement and support his Dad gives him is unreal..Rocco & Rudi Vata??Blessed? pic.twitter.com/qNqjAYvCOg
— AnnFrances Murray (@AnnFrancesMurr3) December 29, 2021
Celtic supporters have been aware of Rocco Vata for a while, his Dad played for the club in the nineties, winning the Scottish Cup in 1995 a few weeks after scoring in the Glasgow derby.
At the age of 16 Vata has been a regular in the Celtic B team, sometimes playing at centre-forward but most featuring down the right-wing in a very unconventional way.
Rocco has pace and power, not the traditional mix of a Celtic winger but highly effective, especially up against experienced opponents in the Lowland League.
He also has an eye for goal with six so far with his Lowland League appearances impacted by international duty at u-17 and u-18 level for Ireland.
It generally requires a combination of unexpected circumstances for a Dawson or Moffat to get a chance, if that happens to Vata he looks well capable of taking it.
