Celtic’s American loanees were both in action last night as they had to deal with one point each.
Andrew Gutman’s Charlotte Independence took an impressive point from Nashville. At the same time, however, North Carolina were being held to a 0-0 draw at home by Birmingham Legion.
The USL hasn’t quite gone the way Gutman would’ve liked with his new club in particular. Charlotte still sit 16th in the 18-team Eastern Conference. Perez’s North Carolina, meanwhile, remain seventh and just three points from third place. It’s certainly been mixed when it comes to each player’s team results.
But on an individual level, there’s not much either of Celtic’s young hopefuls could’ve asked for. Gutman got yet another 90 minutes as he continues his fine run of games. Perez, on the other hand, lasted 80 minutes before being replaced by Donovan Ewolo for the final 10.
In terms of assists, neither were able to conjure anything up this weekend. But that’s no disaster – Perez and Gutman have already bagged two assists each so far in the USL. Perez also grabbed another in the US Open Cup win against Richmond Kickers on Wednesday.
Gutman has now had 12 outings for the Independence, with Perez on 10 at North Carolina.
Celtic’s plans for the duo still to be revealed
It will be interesting to see just how close to the first-team both Perez and Gutman get next season. They haven’t failed to impress since their loan moves. Perez, in particular, has had a couple of tremendous assists since joining North Carolina.
Celtic are going to be extremely short in the full-back areas next season too. Down the left, Emilio Izaguirre’s contract is running out at the end of the season. That leaves just Kieran Tierney as the only natural left-back, with Jonny Hayes a potential makeshift replacement. That’s where Gutman could come in and play second-fiddle.
It looks even better for Perez, however. Mikael Lustig and Cristian Gamboa are both also out of contract after the Scottish Cup final. Jeremy Toljan will be heading back to Borussia Dortmund too.
As it stands, only Anthony Ralston is a natural right-back, yet he hasn’t featured in first-team action for us since January – making just four outings all season. Could there be some opportunities for Perez there? You would like to think Celtic would seriously splash the cash in that area this summer, but Perez could be a good deputy.
For now, both men will continue their USL campaigns, with yet another fixture ticked off the calendar.
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