Brendan Rodgers reckons Liam Scales is one of the ‘biggest surprises’ of his management career after watching him perform so well for Celtic over the last few weeks.
Scales has become a solid performer in the Bhoys defence both domestically and in the UEFA Champions League, becoming almost undroppable in the manager’s starting eleven.
On Saturday he was again impressive up against Kilmarnock, winning header after header defensively as well as distributing the ball well moving forward.
Rodgers enthused about him post-match, telling BBC Radio Scotland: “He’s outstanding and I am so happy for him. He is probably one of the biggest surprises for me in my career as a coach and only because I hadn’t seen him play so much and there were other players ahead of him.
“Through one leaving and one being injured, I have seen enough in training to give him an opportunity. You ideally want a left-sided centre-half in your team who has good pace and intelligence and he has all of that.
“You can see how he’s performing that he has really grown as a player and I am so happy for him because he has pressure – there is a big focus on the Irish players when they come here but he has been outstanding.”
Cameron Carter-Vickers has now returned from injury but even with Nat Phillips and Gustaf Lagerbielke in the squad, Scales is a good bet to retain a place in the starting eleven.
It was a partnership that looked comfortable at the weekend. It will surely only improve time. When Maik Nawrocki returns there may be decisions to be made, but for now, everyone is comfortable with Scales in the team.
It’s a credit to his resilience after a rocky road at Celtic. The Irishman hopefully goes from strength to strength from this point onwards.
In other news, Reo Hatate addresses how he felt about Ange Postecoglou exit and Brendan Rodgers arrival at Celtic.
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