New Celtic signing James McCarthy could make his debut for the club this weekend but the comments of Ange Postecoglou suggest an appearance off the bench is most likely.
So far, the manager has wasted no time in giving new signings their debuts with Liel Abada, Kyogo Furuhashi, Carl Starfelt and Joe Hart all thrown in at the deep end shortly after their arrivals.
However, Postecoglou has also stressed that McCarthy’s situation is different to some of those arrivals, having not gone through a full pre-season.
The new midfielder has been at Lennoxtown this week training with players left behind for the trip to the Czech Republic.
He’s now set to be assessed tomorrow ahead of Sunday’s match against Dundee.
Speaking to The Scotsman, the Bhoys boss said: “James was released by Crystal Palace at the end of last season and he has been training on his own. Joe, though, was still training with Spurs up until a couple of days ago.
“We’re going to assess James back in Glasgow and he’ll be working with our staff at Lennoxtown. I’ll get my first look at him at the weekend and see how he feels. We’ll be keen to get him involved as quickly as possible. But James’s situation is different to Joe’s.”
McCarthy meanwhile sounds eager to get involved as soon as possible.
Speaking at his first media event as a Celtic player today, he’s up for a debut, stating [Celtic YouTube]: “As I say it’s been a long time coming and I’m delighted to be here, it’s amazing.
“I’m just happy to here and now I need to make sure I get working hard and get ready for whenever the manager calls upon me.
“It’s down to the manager obviously and I’ve training been training back at Lennoxtown with a couple of the lads that were there.
“It’s down to the manager now, obviously we’ll meet all the rest of the team tomorrow, they’ve been away in the Czech Republic so I’m looking forward to seeing them and getting to know a lot them as well.”
Ismaila Soro now has serious Celtic competition
It seems likely that when McCarthy is fully fit and ready to go he’ll get a run in the team. As a defensively minded midfielder, it makes the most sense that he’d be replacing Ivorian international Ismaila Soro.
Soro has been decent, for me, at the start of the season. However, some fans are still unconvinced he is the future in that anchor position.
At the very least, McCarthy’s arrival should reveal whether Soro has what it takes to raise his game and be a consistent force for Postecoglou.
Alongside Callum McGregor, the new arrival could create quite a pairing at the Bhoys, which will be a lot for Soro to live up to.
In other news, Ange Postecoglou delivers ‘really honest’ verdict on Celtic flaws.
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