Celtic have confirmed the loan departures of both Robbie Deas and Daniel Church.
The club confirmed that both youth players had left the club on Friday morning. 19-year-old Deas has joined up with former Hoops hero Peter Grant at Championship side Alloa Athletic until the end of the season. The defender spent last year on loan at Cowdenbeath but did return in time to net the Hoops’ winner in the Glasgow Cup final victory over Rangers.
Church, meanwhile, has signed for League One side East Fife – again on a season-long loan.
Deas and Church are fighting a battle at Celtic
Celtic may have had enormous success with their youth academy in recent seasons but it doesn’t make it any easier for the likes of Deas and Church to make the breakthrough.
Celtic have so many youngsters that only a select few go on to play in the club’s first-team. Kieran Tierney and James Forrest are two of the best examples of players coming through the youth academy to star for the first-team. However, both made initial breakthroughs and didn’t ever have to leave on loan.
Callum McGregor did have to play first-team football elsewhere but his loan was at a pretty solid level with Notts County.
Very few players go on to make a career for Celtic after being farmed out to the lower leagues in Scottish football. It’s a difficult, but unavoidable, fact that shows that Deas and Church are probably never going to make it at the club.
Both will likely go on to have good careers, just not at Celtic. It’s just the way it goes.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
