Brendan Rodgers has already made development intentions clear to Celtic stars

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Brendan Rodgers has already made his intentions to develop young Celtic talent clear.

The Celtic first-team squad Rodgers has inherited is a pretty young one. Of mainstay players from last season, only Callum McGregor and Joe Hart are the wrong side of 30.

The majority of the squad are aged from 23 to 28, while the club have already signed hot young talent in the shape of Marco Tilio (21), Hyunjun Yang (21) and Odin Thiago Holm (20) this summer.

Matt O’Riley (22) is another who would fit in to the ‘young’ category. The Danish youth international has been speaking in the media about his new manager, and his own development.

It seems like Rodgers may have arrived at the perfect time in O’Riley’s career.

“I’m at an age now where I’m young, but I’m not that young,” O’Riley told the Daily Record.

“It’s time for me to kick on and keep progressing. I will keep sticking to my process to get better mentally, physically and technically. If I can do that I’ll be in a good place.

“The manager has mentioned how he likes to develop young players. He’s going to be beneficial to a lot of players like me, because we have a young squad. It’s nice to work with someone who encourages that side of young players.

“He’s someone you can speak to on and off the pitch. Having someone to be able to speak to when I am curious about improving things will be really helpful.

“We also have John Kennedy, Gavin Strachan and Harry Kewell as well.”

Hyeongyu Oh, Liel Abada and Alexandro Bernabei are three more of the young crop Rodgers could really get to work with.

The Northern Irishman has a great track record with the likes of Raheem Sterling, Philippe Coutinho, Kieran Tierney, Moussa Dembele and James Maddison all going on to great things while working under him.

With that in mind, the better question may be who from this current squad Rodgers will raise to new heights, rather than if it will happen.

O’Riley may be a pretty safe bet. As outlined above, a number of Rodgers’ real success stories have been with central or attacking midfielders. For every Maddison and Coutinho there’s also been a Stuart Armstrong or Youri Tielemans.

O’Riley is not someone who says things for the sake of it in the media. When he speaks, it’s almost always worth reading in to.

He clearly likes Rodgers’ eagerness for dialogue. Let’s hope we can see an even better O’Riley this season.

In other news, Liel Abada has finally received some credit for an underrated quality he possesses