Celtic have made an interesting squad decision for their upcoming UEFA Europa League qualifier against AZ Alkmaar.
New signing James McCarthy has unsurprisingly been included in the new squad. However, the man to drop out is young Leo Hjelde.
Whilst there was always going to be a need for someone to drop out to allow McCarthy to come in, it’s intriguing to see that it’s Hjelde who’s been cut.
The reason? It’s been reported over the summer that the Norwegian talent could be on the way to EPL club Leeds United. The latest on that came last week when the Yorkshire Evening Post reported that Leeds had made a breakthrough in negotiations for the teenager.
Hjelde hasn’t played in any of the Celtic B side’s last two matches either. That’s despite being a regular in the first few matches of the campaign beforehand.
Leo Hjelde not making Celtic squad makes future look ominous
There are plenty of others that potentially could’ve been cut in Hjelde’s place. The likes of Kerr McInroy, Scott Robertson, and Dane Murray for example, are still in there.
However, Hjelde dropping out isn’t a good look. It only adds fuel to the fire that he’ll be leaving Celtic Park this summer. This latest update makes it seem ominous in fact.
It was perhaps telling when the centre-back was left in the lurch whilst Murray was given a first-team role earlier in pre-season. Hjelde, given he’d just come off a loan spell at Ross County, appeared to be more first-team ready. Ange Postecoglou was taking a substantial look at him in pre-season too.
You have to wonder whether Hjelde’s desire to leave held back some progression he could’ve made this summer. It’s certainly difficult to see him staying in Glasgow for the long term now.
It’s disappointing. If this move goes ahead, we’re clearly losing another talented youngster before he’s even made an impact on the first team. It would add to the long list of young departees that have made their moves over the last two years.
We’ll see what the coming days and weeks bring here. But Hjelde looks almost certain to be off at this rate.
In other news, Celtic already dealing with injury losses better than last season
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