Celtic are growing accustomed to losing young players to English sides.
Ben Doak, Aidan Borland and Liam Smith are among those to have departed the Hoops as teenagers, leading to much soul-searching about the club’s academy.
Brendan Rodgers has recently brought Colby Donovan into the first-team fold, and his contributions have been impressive. But this has unfortunately been a rarity in recent years.
He isn’t the only good full-back to come from the club’s academy in recent times – both Kieran Tierney and Anthony Ralston are currently with Steve Clarke’s Scotland squad.
But another full-back to have come through the Hoops’ academy has been making waves in a European league – in fact, he has been handed Player of the Month.
Former Celtic youngster given Player of the Month in Belgium
Celtic established a partnership with Austrian side Admira Wacker in 2023, which saw young players sent on there. Think Ujpest back in the day.
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Tobi Oluwayemi and Ben Summers are among the young Celts to have made the move in the last two years.
But Matthew Anderson has particularly went from strength to strength. The left-back spent two years on loan in Austria, becoming a regular in their first-team.
This earned him a move to Belgium in the summer, to join KV Kortijk in the second tier. He isn’t the only ex-Hoops youngster at the club – Irish striker Jonathan Afolabi is also on their books.
But Anderson has been stealing the headlines for his performances over the last two months, in which he has racked up two assists for the side who are sitting second in the table.
Celtic players in the Belgian league
Anderson isn’t the only ex-Hoops man currently excelling Belgium.
Hyeon-gyu Oh scored the winner for Genk at Ibrox last month, and was attracting big-money interest in the summer.
Boli Bolingoli also plies his trade in the Pro League. He has started just once for Standard Liege, being hooked at half-time in a 3-0 home defeat to Cercle Brugge.
Michel-Ange Balikwisha recently went the other way, making the move from Royal Antwerp to the Hoops after over a year of interest.
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