James Forrest sends determined pre-season Celtic message

By Lewis Laird

July 11, 2022

Celtic winger James Forrest has insisted he is just staying at Parkhead for the sake of it after signing a new three-year deal with the club.

The 31-year-old came through the club’s academy and made his debut back in 2010 against Motherwell, scoring on his first appearance for the Hoops.

Since his debut over 12 years ago, the veteran winger has gone on to become a mainstay in many Celtic sides and one of the club’s most successful players in terms of trophies collected.

With Forrest approaching the final year of his contract last season, many Celtic fans were intrigued to see if his future remained at Parkhead, particularly after a frustrating few years due to injury.

However, those questions were quickly put to bed when the Scotland internationalist agreed a new three-year deal to remain amongst Ange Postecoglou’s squad.

Whilst the winger was delighted to see his future remain at Celtic, Forrest insisted he isn’t here to simply make up the numbers and is looking to have an impact on Postecoglou’s side next season.

He said [Daily Record]: “I was delighted to sign my deal, and I think it was good for me and the club, but I don’t want to just say that I’ll stay here for the sake of staying here.

“I want to win more things and play as much as I can, and if that means staying here for the rest of my career, then I’d be happy with that. It’s just the same as every year, I’ve had a lot of good seasons before, and you just have to try to come back stronger after having injuries, and I’ve been doing that.

“I’ve started well this pre-season, and I want to continue to do that, and hopefully, I’ll take that into the season as well. You speak to older boys and that, and I turned 31 on Thursday, but I love being here, and I wouldn’t want to be here if I just wanted to plod along.

“I want to keep trying to help the team, keep trying to win stuff and play as much as I can. I’m looking forward to the season just as I did with last season as well.”

James Forrest determined ahead of the new season.

It will be a tough task for any player to break into the Celtic front three, ahead of the impressive Jota and Daizen Maeda on either wing.

Postecoglou also has further quality options within his squad, including last summer’s arrival and young player of the year, Liel Abada.

However, Forrest very much sounds up for the fight.

Over the years, the winger has shown he has the quality to make an impact and help Celtic on their way to league and cup success.

I am sure Postecoglou will value his experience very highly, amongst quite a young squad as we prepare to enter the Champions League group stage,

Forrest could prove to be valuable to the Celtic manager at several different stages of the season, should he stay injury-free.

In other news, English side stepping up interest in ex-Celtic youngster after Lennoxtown exit.