West Brom are the latest club to raid the Celtic Academy with Eseosa Sule moving to the Championship club without making an appearance in the Lowland League for the B team.
Celtic have become used to seeing prospects move on to Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Manchester City but when West Brom offer a better pathway than the hoops it is a worrying development.
It seems that playing in the Lowland League isn’t viewed as much of a stepping stone into the professional ranks, with uncertainty over whether the Lowland League will accept three Premiership sides in next season’s competition.
Beyond the B team lies uncertainty. Ben Wylie impressed in last season’s Lowland League but his loan spell to Airdrie United was cut short after a handful of appearances.
Despite a couple of first team appearances last season Owen Moffat moved to the Blackpool Development side in the close season.
At 14.14 on their Transfer Blog the Daily Record reported:
West Brom have snapped up talented young Celtic striker Eseosa Sule.
The 16-year-old striker had been tipped to make an impact at Parkhead after coming through their youth ranks to sign his first professional contract in the summer.
But Scots-born Sule, who has Nigerian parents, has opted to move to the English Championship after Celtic accepted an offer from West Brom.
The teenager travelled south this afternoon to put pen to paper on a deal that will see him join the Midlands outfit.
Sule joins a list of former Celtic kids, including Ben Doak (Liverpool) and Bayern Munich duo Liam Morrison and Barry Hepburn, who have left the club after shining brightly in the Parkhead academy set-up.
Saw him a few times, but honestly think he has an attitude problem. Good luck to the lad at WBA and I hope goes on to make a career for himself in the game. My own opinion is that he will simply disappear / fail to reach his potential
Editor: Is there anyone 16-18 that you think can be in the first team, starting matches before the age of 21? I can’t see anyone developing the way Hickey has while we trust in playing in Lowland League.