Director of football admits his club have loaned a ‘special’ player from Celtic

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Celtic have a number of players currently out on loan attempting to carve out some regular first-team minutes this season.

Just this week 67 Hail Hail discussed how Brendan Rodgers allowed Matthew Anderson and Ben Summers to go out on loan to Admira Wacker this season.

Both youngsters have entered the final year of their Celtic deals and now have the chance to show Rodgers what they can do in a first-team setting.

On top of that, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Alexandro Bernabei and Johnny Kenny have also been loaned out but it seems that it’s young Marco Tilio who is getting the praise.

Melbourne City FC’s Director of football, Michael Petrillo, admits what he first thought of the Australian winger when he saw him at Sydney FC when Tilio was just 16 and it seems that even at that even at that young age, the Celtic winger impressed.

Celtic’s Marco Tilio is ‘special’

Tilio joined Celtic for a record fee ever paid to an Australian club for a footballer in 2023 when they spent just over £1m for the then 22-year-old to get him from Melbourne FC.

However, he struggled to settle at Celtic and Tilio was loaned back to his former club where his now currently enjoying his second spell on loan.

But Petrillo said it was when Tilio was at Sydney FC that he knew the youngster was a special talent despite being one of the smallest in their team.

Petrillo told Suited & Booted TV, “We don’t really care what size they are. I think there’s a history of shorter players in world football who have been the best.

“I’m sure Marco won’t mind me saying but Tills is not the tallest guy going around but when I saw him at Sydney I thought, ‘Wow this kid is special’ and it really doesn’t matter.

“We’ve got some kids in the academy that are probably a little bit younger and some of them are probably the most talented ones that will go through a growth spurt but we have a pretty good handle on where they’re going to go and to what level they’ll get.

“We do our homework.”

Marco Tilio and Celtic

It’s difficult to tell if the young Australian will make it at Celtic after making just two appearances for the club since his record-breaking move.

However, the Melbourne fans were delighted to see Tilio return to their club in July so he clearly has something about him.

Injury has so far hampered his spell at Melbourne but Tilio has made seven appearances and scored one goal so far.

On loan until June next year, Tilio still has time to show Rodgers that he can play a part for Celtic but does need to kick on now that his injury problems appear to be behind him.