For those unaware of happenings on Monday, there was a Youssouf Mulumbu appearance in a Celtic jersey.
That came in the form of a start for the reserves at Lesser Hampden park.
Celtic came out on top against Partick Thistle reserves 4-1 at the tiny ground next to the national stadium. Goals from Kundai Benyu, Jack Aitchison, and a Calvin Miller brace sealed the success.
Mulumbu appeared to play the full 90 minutes, which will be a real boost to the player. As announced by the Celtic Academy’s Twitter page, he started the match alongside the likes of Armstrong Oko-flex and Aitchison.
Is this to help fitness ahead of potential loan move?
Mulumbu has been confirmed as one of the players Brendan Rodgers wants to go out on loan. The Hoops manager has claimed that he was brought in during the summer as a “support player”, and that he now needs games.
This could explain why he suddenly made an appearance for the reserves today. The Hoops could be trying to build up the veteran midfielder’s fitness levels ahead of any prospective loan move.
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Mulumbu didn’t travel with the squad to Dubai, and that shows just how out of the picture he is at Celtic Park.
Aitchison also scored his first goal since being snapped up on-loan by Alloa Athletic. The youngster made his debut for Alloa at the weekend in the 2-0 loss to Ross County. The only true way to impress, however, is to be scoring at senior level, and Aitchison must now prove he can do that regularly.
Miller is one who could certainly do with a loan move after having his season-long stint at Dundee cut short. A change of manager in the first-half of the season didn’t help him, but today’s brace will be a nice boost for him.
The likes of Benyu and Oko-flex also seem to be a long way away from first-team action, given the quantity and quality of players ahead of them. But the run-out will do them well too.
It’ll now be interesting to see developments between now and January 31st regarding Mulumbu’s next move.