Martin O’Neill has urged Celtic to make way for more young players.
Whilst it currently looks unlikely that the Irishman will be in charge beyond this season, he still has one eye on the future.
Many anticipate a major rebuild for Celtic this summer, with a host of first-team players expected to leave for various reasons.
And for O’Neill, this is an opportunity to buck the trend of academy players finding no pathway to first team football at Celtic Park.
Why are Celtic struggling to bring through academy players?
Martin O’Neill ‘impressed’ by young Celtic players
Asked about the upcoming reset at the end of the season, the interim boss said: “In terms of getting other players into the football club, yes, we will have a top-heavy squad come the end of the season or come when people are reporting back.
“I did not realise how big it is.
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“You know, players are out all over the place and I want, believe it or not, if I was here, I’d like to make room for younger players coming through.
“Myself and Fozzy [Mark Fotheringham] went to watch the B team. They played Brentford last Tuesday at Barrowfield and some of the younger lads, I know they’re not of the age at this minute, they are really impressive.
“So it is a balancing act of trying to be strong, still strong, and hopefully that these players can come through in the next couple of years.
“Because that would be lovely, that would be really nice to see young boys who’ve got the club at heart, who’ve maybe been in the academies here since they were about 12 or 13 to come through. And we’ve got one or two lads.
“It was an under-18s or 19s game against Brentford, but it was very impressive, both sides. So that was really good.
“I think we should have an eye on that, and not stifle young talent coming through, particularly here because Scottish football needs it.”
Celtic have bloated their squad with a high volume of ‘project’ signings over the last decade…
“Yeah, but I do get this because you’re under pressure to win. That’s, that’s the point. From a distance you always think you’d like to see people coming through. It was a wee bit like when I was here way back.
“You had some serious players, but you had to win — and Celtic hadn’t won for some time.
“And while we had some young kids that we felt might have been able to, with a bit more nurturing, a bit more time, you didn’t have that time.
“That’s the problem here, you don’t. I mean, it’d be lovely to take a leaf out of Sir Alex Ferguson’s book and say you’ve got about seven or eight great kids coming through.
“But he knew that they were great kids anyway. So the point I’m making is this here, that you have to, you have to win. You have to win at this football club.
“That’s the first and foremost and most important thing. But bringing players through is still fundamental. It is, honestly. And that, and it would be nice to have that, that mixture.”
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Celtic’s academy continues to lose talent
Dara Jikiemi’s move to Liverpool looks set to be the latest example of the Hoops’ academy bleeding talent to the Premier League’s benefit.
Ben Gannon-Doak stands as the biggest success story of young players leaving Parkhead for moves down south, by far.
But for every Gannon-Doak, there are plenty more examples of young Celts being discarded by England’s giants, even after excelling at under-21 level.
Despite this, the trend has continued in the last few years: Aidan Borland to Aston Villa, Daniel Cummings to West Ham, Rory Mahady to Leeds… the list goes on.
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