Celtic have won the battle to sign teenage Filip Skorb.
As well as competition from within Scotland, Newcastle United and Leeds United have both been strongly linked with young striker.
Last night Portobello Community Football Academy posted on Facebook that their player was joining Celtic.
It is fairly unusual these days for a top schoolboy not to be part of the Academy of a professional club but Skorb seems to have trusted his development with his home town rather than be lured in by nearby Hearts and Hibs.
Celtic’s interest in Skorb seems to have been kept very low key, in March the Daily Record reported:
Rangers are in the fight with Newcastle United and Leeds United to land talented teenager Filip Skorb.
The free-scoring striker is set to play for the Light Blues as a trialist in a tournament against Manchester United this weekend. Rangers are keen to sign the Portobello CFA Thistle player for their academy but they face stiff and growing competition.
Skorb has already been down and had a successful visit to Leeds United, and has also been invited to visit Premiership rivals Newcastle United over the coming weeks. Rangers are in need for a new striker with Kemar Roofe’s injury woes mounting up over the course of the season, and Alfredo Morelos’ future continues to be uncertain with his contract up at the end of the season.
Getting a professional contract is quite an achievement but only the start of the hard work, becoming full time and playing and training alongside players of a similar standard.
With the benefits of sports science and being inside a professional environment on a daily basis Skorb can develop his full potential but there are a large number of variables at play that determine the small portion of schoolboy talents that make it through to first team level.
At a younger age than Skorb, Karamoko Dembele was one of the most sought after talents in the UK, making the Celtic bench for the 2019 Scottish Cup Final as a 16-year-old.
While Dembele is struggling to make an impact with French side Brest the 16-year-old that played for Hearts in the final at Hampden has gone from strength to strength.
Via a spell in Italy with Bologna, Aaron Hickey is a full internationalist for Scotland and about to complete a full season in the EPL with Brentford.
