One thing we know about Celtic boss Ange Postecoglou is that he isn’t a man of sentiment when it comes to making footballing decisions. He doesn’t do favours to favourites and certainly isn’t in the business of handing out playing minutes that haven’t been fully earned.
The Bhoys manager has made that perfectly clear with regard to youth duo Ben Summers and Rocco Vata, who have been in and around the first team recently. Summers made his debut at Rugby Park on Sunday with Vata getting more competitive action under his belt as a 68th-minute substitute.
It wasn’t a tokenistic inclusion from Postecoglou, far from it. He’s delighted with the progress of both and simply thinks they’re ready for more exposure to top-flight senior football.
Speaking after the 4-1 win in Ayrshire, the Celtic boss said [Football Scotland]: “Ben, Rocco and Bosun have all been training with us for quite a while. It’s about them earning their opportunity. They’ve trained really well and obviously we’ve got a few out right now. They’ve got to be ready to go.
“Rocco came on and did a job for us. Ben has been really good at training, I’m really happy with his growth. He’s not a winger but getting some game time is a bit of a reward – because he’s earned it, not because of my generous nature. We put him out there because we think he’s earned the opportunity to do that and it was good for him to get some game time.”
Realistically, the manager isn’t going to start rushing them into starting elevens before they are truly ready. That could do more harm than good. More likely is that Postecoglou treats them more like has recent new signings, gradually working them up to a peak alongside their impressive teammates.
Breaking into this squad is far from easy, never mind the fact they have positioned themselves to actually start earning minutes in the set-up. So they’re clearly making a positive impression.
If they’re to make it at Celtic as regulars, that will have to continue. There’s no easy route coming through the academy into the Bhoys first team but hopefully they can continue working hard, developing their talent and giving the much older players something to think about.
In other news, Report: Ajax have their eyes on Celtic winger Liel Abada.
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