Celtic’s training today was likely all about getting prepared for Hearts on Wednesday, but there were a couple of nice surprises for supporters.
The Hoops are gearing up for a massive clash this midweek. Victory at Tynecastle would cross off one of the hardest away fixtures of the calendar. At the very least, Celtic could go eight points clear with just 10 games remaining.
But as they geared up, it was hard to ignore the little boosts in training today.
As reported in the Daily Record, who published images on their official website, Anthony Ralston is firstly back in training.
The Hoops youngster has been missing for the last month due to damage on his ankle ligaments. To say it set him back would be an understatement.
Ralston has since lost his place in the side to Jeremy Toljan. Toljan arrived on-loan from Borussia Dortmund last month and is highly regarded as the club’s number one right-back.
It will be interesting to see whether Ralston manages to take Mikael Lustig’s place on the bench, however, when fit to feature. The Swede is out of contract, and there haven’t been any noises of an extension to his current deal.
It’s great to see Ralston back in with the first team, but he could really do with a solid run of form without injury between now and the end of the season.
The youth drive is getting geared up once more
In addition to that, it also appears that Brendan Rodgers is stepping up his youth drive at Lennoxtown.
Earlier on this month, Karamoko Dembele had his chance to train with the first-team. The likes of Armstrong Oko-flex and Ewan Henderson have all had chances to be in and around the first-team squad too.
Today, however, it was the turn of young Irish playmaker Barry Coffey to get a chance training with the main Bhoys.
Coffey was signed back in the summer of 2017. The Hoops reportedly had to fend off the likes of Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs for his signature.
Since then, he’s been working with the development squads and honing his craft. The Daily Record, however, published an image of both Coffey and Rodgers at training today.
Yet another sign that work is being cranked up in the youth system at Parkhead.
To sum it all up, it’s a nice couple of boosts ahead of a crunch week ahead for the Hoops.
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