The signing of Luke McCowan by Brendan Rodgers concluded a busy transfer deadline day for Brendan Rodgers at Celtic last month.
In a day where Arne Engels and Auston Trusty were added for combined fees of around £17m, the very late addition of McCowan for a further £1m took Rodgers’ summer additions to a total of seven new players as the Celtic boss looked to strengthen his team for the new season ahead.
Luke McCowan made his Celtic debut with a substitute appearance against Rangers in the 3-0 win at Celtic Park and although it’s early days, the former Dundee man did not look phased playing in one of the biggest derby games in football.
Whilst McCowan will have been buzzing after getting to play for his boyhood heroes, Ayr United’s head of Youth Academy, Davie White explains why he is also over the moon at seeing McCowan don the famous green and white Hoops.
Academy coach excited by Celtic signing
McCowan was a product of Ayr’s youth academy and progressed into their first team to make 78 appearances and score 18 goals before moving to Dundee in 2021.
Now at Celtic, White said McCowan’s move to the Scottish champions has inspired the Championship club to keep working at producing young talent.
White told Ayr United FC, “Pride, satisfaction, excitement and probably a wee bit of inspiration to us all at the Academy. Essentially we’ve supported Luke to become a million-pound player.
“So when he started his journey you always try and be aspirational about where he can take himself to and the fact that he’s now with a team that’s in the Champions League, the fact he’s now got a £1m pound price tag on him is just inspirational for everybody that was involved with Luke.
“And I think everybody who’s around the academy and club should take a real satisfaction and a real enjoyment seeing a young person and a young man I progress to the level he’s at.”
McCowan’s classy gesture
And whilst McCowan’s whirlwind move happened quickly and in a matter of hours, White shared how the Celtic midfielder still took the time to thank him with an exchange of texts not long after his transfer from Dundee.
White continued, “It was brilliant and that’s the humbling and, I suppose, the inspiring part that on Saturday myself and Luke exchanged a few texts about some of the things we used to discuss and try and develop him on when he was at Ayr and he’s taken some of the things on in his career he’s progressed.
“It’s just I suppose the personal touches where I’m so lucky that you kind of have those relationships that when they have a big moment and they reach out to you and exchange texts.
“It’s a big moment for myself and it’s a big moment for the academy and the club.”
McCowan has a tough challenge ahead of him to stake a claim in the Celtic first team ahead of the likes of Reo Hatate and Paulo Bernardo.
But it seems the 26-year-old is up for that challenge and if he can show the same level of performance that he did in his Rangers cameo, then Celtic could very well have made the bargain signing of the summer.
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