Celtic prospect could be set to provide defensive backup following injury woes

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Celtic defender Bosun Lawal was spotted amongst first-team training this afternoon as the Bhoys prepare to return to Premiership action on Saturday.

The young academy prospect joined the likes of Callum McGregor, Matt O’Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi ahead of this weekend’s fixture against Motherwell.

While it isn’t unusual to see young academy players make the step up to first-team training, the timing of Lawal’s involvement is very interesting.

Of course, Lawal has now been involved with Ange Postecoglou’s squad on plenty of occasions this season, having also travelled to Austria in pre-season.

The talented defender featured in several friendly outings, most alongside the now former Hoops man Christopher Jullien.

Lawal joined the club from English side Watford last summer, where he was held in high regard and went on to have a stellar campaign in the Lowland League with the Celtic B side.

Following on from that time spent working under Tommy McIntyre and Darren O’Dea, some have asked what is the next step for the young player.

So far, he has continued to be involved with the B side and has even scored three goals in his last three games. But unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to compete with the rest of the academy youngsters in the UEFA Youth League.

Spending time at Lennoxtown alongside both the B and first-team will be valuable for his development, but so will playing regular games at a higher level, which is why many were surprised there wasn’t any suggestions of a potential loan move.

Lawal could now be set for Celtic defensive back-up role following recent injury woes.

However, the club’s reasoning to not put the defender out on loan may have been justified, and this afternoon’s involvement could hint toward a defensive backup role at this moment in time.

Currently, Mortiz Jenz and Stephen Welsh are expected to continue in the Hoops’ back four, whilst Cameron Carter-Vickers and Carl Starfelt continue their recovery from injury.

At this stage, we have no indication of how long that might be, and with no natural senior backup options after Jenz and Welsh available, Lawal could have become that man.

A place on the bench this Saturday against Motherwell could even be a possibility in the unfortunate event that either of our current two centre-backs pick up a knock.

Whilst new signing Oliver Abildgaard has previously filled in at that area, Postecoglou might be keen to see the midfielder in his natural position first.

It is very much an opportunity the Celtic youngster will be looking to grab with both hands as he aims to progress through the academy system he joined last summer.

Saturday’s squad could give us an indication of that if he is involved at Parkhead in some sort of way.

In other news, SPFL announce record turnover with Celtic top of the tree for prize money.