RB Leipzig are the latest club to be credited with an interest in signing Rocco Vata.
The 18-year-old forward is out of contract at the end of this season with little to suggest that a new deal is about to be signed with Celtic.
Vata scored twice for Ireland against San Marino in his u-21 debut with transfer specialist Scott Burns of the Daily Record reporting interest from Germany:
RB Leipzig ran the rule over Rocco Vata – as he made a dream debut for Republic of Ireland’s U21s.
The Bundesliga giants were in Cork last night to watch the Celtic youngster net a double in their 3-0 qualifying win over San Marino. It was Vata’s first appearance at that level after he had stepped up from U19s level.
The 18-year-old didn’t disappoint as he caught the eye with a brace to help the young Irish side maintain their 100 percent start to qualifying in Group A. Leipzig had a scout at Turners Cross and Vata is no stranger having already played against them in the European youth competition with Celtic.
The German side were amongst a plethora of scouts who were at the game, along with the likes of English Premier League sides Brentford and Brighton.
Under 21 international matches will be heavily scouted, with his contract expiring in May it would be a shock if Vata’s agents weren’t alerting clubs about his availability and when to watch him.
San Marino aren’t the highest calibre of opponents but a definite step up compared to Albion Rovers, East Kilbride and Berwick Rangers- the last three teams that Vata has faced in the Lowland League.
Next up for the Celtic youth/development/B team is matches against West Ham in the Premier League Cup and Feyenoord in the UEFA Youth League.
Whatever view Leipzig took from the San Marino match on Vata they can quickly follow up in those matches over the next week.
The lack of planning or pathway for young players is likely to have created the stand off for Vata, in season 21/22 playing as a 16-year-old in the Lowland League was a great experience but playing at the same level for two more seasons isn’t going to advance his game, especially when he sees the strides being made by Ben Doak at Liverpool who also played a few matches in the 21/22 Lowland League.
Any time I’ve seen this guy play, he’s looked more than ready for first team involvement. With Abada injured, Haksabanovic gone, Forrest out of the picture and games against the likes of Dundee coming up, give the lad a proper run out, show him he has a future here and get him signed up on a new contract. Look what happened when Deila gave Tierney and CalMac their chance. For all his faults, the guy did at least give some of the better youth players a chance and we have reaped the rewards of that since then.
The irony is, if Vata was playing for some Norwegian, Croatian or Bulgarian team, we would probably have been prepared to pay the same £2-3m to sign him that we spent on other “projects” of similar calibre this summer. Yet we have players who are just as good on the books already, but never play them.
Excellent comment BriBhoy.
This is the weakness at Celtic, where the path is not encouraged for young players.
In my opinion, the last person to bring youngsters on was Ronny Deila, who was an excellent coach and strategist. He saw when players were ready and had the courage to bring them on.