Lawwell linked with move for Irish wonder kid

Celtic are being linked with an interest in Sam Curtis of St Patrick’s Athletic.

The Dublin side recently beat Bohemians in the final of the FAI Cup to put their players in the spotlight.

A growing number of young Irish players are deciding to take their first steps with home based clubs rather than move to England straight from school with many returning home disillusioned after a year or two in the lower divisions.

At the age of 17 Curtis has an impressive pedigree but with Alistair Johnston and Tony Ralston playing in the same position it is difficult to see where he would make progress as a Celtic player.

After signing seven project players during the summer transfer window Brendan Rodgers has made it clear to Mark Lawwell that he is looking for quality and experience when trading starts in January.

The Sun reports:

The latest player reported to be of interest to Celtic is St Pat’s Athletic talent Sam Curtis.

A right-back, Curits has established himself as a key player at club level and is a regular for the under-21s despite being just 17 years of age.

An attack-minded player, Curtis burst onto the scene for St Pat’s as a right-wing back and has already featured 60 times for the League of Ireland Premier Division side.

He broke the record for the youngest player to play in a league game when he made his debut in August 2021 as an injury time substitute in a 2-1 win over Waterford, coming on aged 15 years and 255 days.

That also made him St Pat’s youngest ever player in club history (that record has since been taken by Mason Melia).

According to 90Min, Celtic have sent scouts to watch the starlet in action but if they want to follow up on that initial interest, they’ll have to fend off the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool.

In recent times Celtic have signed Liam Scales and Jonny Kenny from the League of Ireland with contrasting results.