Footballer Daire O’Connor — a close friend of Liam Scales — has been speaking about the Celtic defender’s remarkable rise.
The Irish centre-back was totally out of the picture at Celtic a matter of months ago. However, a string of defensive injuries presented Scales with a big chance and he hasn’t looked back since.
Since September, he has arguably been our best player. He has performed well in two UEFA Champions League clashes and earned international recognition with the Republic of Ireland.
Former Ayr United man O’Connor, now at Glentoran, has been speaking about the guy he has known from their early days together in County Wicklow.
“At Celtic in his first year, it was a slog to get in and keep his place,” he told the Scottish Sun.
“I was living in Glasgow and we’d see each other a couple of times a week. He was adamant if he could get a season out on loan and play every week he’d back himself.
“Liam’s probably one of the biggest U-turns in modern Celtic history. I remembered reading tweets before the Ibrox game, and the fans were petrified he was playing. Afterwards they were calling him Maldini.”
“He probably wasn’t in the plans before injuries, and he could have left again to get minutes. But he said if there was an injury crisis he would take his chance. Liam learned from last year being on loan at Aberdeen, and centre-back is more of his natural position.
“I remember the game against Lazio at Celtic Park, when the anthems were on. He grew up dreaming of that. I thought his face would be lit up, glowing, like it was the best thing ever. But he looked so calm. Like it was a regular Tuesday. 20 minutes later he put Felipe Anderson into the stands.”
Scales’ maturity and self-belief is something that seems to come to the fore in all of these kind of interviews. He clearly has immense faith in his own talents and his ability to take his big chance when it arrives.
His story has perhaps been the most documented issue at Celtic in recent months. But it truly is astounding to see him go from a player with no future at the club to a first-team regular.
Seeing interviews like O’Connor’s just continues the hype around the defender. Who knows how far this could go for him.
I will admit that I was one of those who was worried about Scales at Ibrox. I genuinely feared the worst. I was wrong too.
Now, I’d have him starting alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers at Tynecastle on Sunday.
In other news, Celtic injuries latest as Brendan Rodgers plans for Hearts and Atletico Madrid
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