Celtic play their first match of pre-season on Friday night, travelling to Somerset Park for a game against Scott Brown’s Ayr United.
Thousands of Celtic supporters are expected in Ayrshire to cheer on the team after strong ticket sales over the last few weeks.
The Bhoys don’t often play away pre-season matches in Scotland so it’s a rare chance for the away support to catch the team in action at this point of the year.
Predicting what team will take to the pitch is quite difficult given the amount of players yet to return to Lennoxtown after exploits on international duty.
Nonetheless, we’ll give it a good go. It’s likely to be a much-changed team from what we are used to as Brendan Rodgers gets game time into the legs of players who were back in training last week.
Potential Celtic team vs Ayr United
With Celtic yet to sign a new goalkeeper following Joe Hart’s retirement, Scott Bain is the strongest contender to start in goal tonight. Benjamin Siegrist is still at the club for now, too, while Tobi Oluwayemi and Josh Clarke have been spotted at Lennoxtown this week.
The defence may well be the hardest area of the team to call given a lack of options on the flanks. Alistair Johnston is still at the Copa America tournament while Anthony Ralston got extended time off after playing at Euro 2024. That means youth option Josh Dede is a contender for game time unless the manager moves a more senior player out of position.
Liam Scales and Maik Nawrocki are both at Lennoxtown preparing, as are Stephen Welsh and Gustaf Lagerbielke so there should be some familiar faces in the heart of defence whoever the manager goes with.
On the left flank, Greg Taylor is yet to return while Alexandro Bernabei remains on loan. Adam Montgomery is an option, with Mitchel Frame and Matthew Anderson both young left-sided defenders that could get a chance depending on their availability.
In midfield, could we see Bosun Lawal get a chance to impress in the position he excelled in on loan at Fleetwood Town? Tomoki Iwata and Odin Thiago Holm could also feature, while there may even be minutes for Daniel Kelly and Hyeokkyu Kwon at some point.
Nicolas Kuhn is a solid option on the wing with Hyunjun Yang also available for action. Kyogo Furuhashi and Hyeongyu Oh have also been in the training mix this week, giving Celtic some deadly firepower to really test the Ayr defence.
Your predicted XI in full is: Bain, Dede, Nawrocki, Scales, Montgomery, Lawal, Holm, Iwata, Kuhn, Yang, Kyogo.
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