Marco Tilio’s signing at Celtic was announced way back on June 30th but fans are still waiting for a glimpse of him on the pitch for the Bhoys.
Tilio has had a difficult start to life in Glasgow. He arrived for a £1.5m fee with a niggling injury that kept him out of pre-season training and matches. Since then it seems he’s been playing catch-up.
Brendan Rodgers stated a few weeks ago that he’s been finding the transition from life in the A-League to Celtic pretty hard, but had been showing some promising signs in training of late. Now, we’re about to find out if the manager rates him at all, at this stage.
The injury to Daizen Maeda has further weakened the manager’s options in the wing areas. Maeda has been playing primarily on the right flank with Luis Palma installed on the left.
The Honduran is unlikely to switch to that side and Mikey Johnston prefers the opposite wing, too. That puts James Forrest and Hyunjun Yang in prime spots to start matches with Liel Abada also missing.
If Marco Tilio is up to the Celtic task we should be seeing him soon
Theoretically, it’s also the perfect time for Tilio to make his debut, get minutes under his belt and start building his Celtic career, even if that match action only comes from the bench. The schedule is tough and all options will be needed. The former Melbourne City man thrives on the right flank.
We also know that the Australian is fit and injury-free. He’s been called up to the Australia U23s squad during the upcoming international break. If he doesn’t start making Celtic match squads in December the obvious conclusion will be that Rodgers simply doesn’t fancy him as a viable performer.
At that point, you’d have to consider a loan exit in January being a possibility. Tilio has signed a five-year contract at Celtic so there’s plenty of time for him to make an impact – but if he’s struggling to hit the levels required in training, he needs to prove himself elsewhere.
If he continues to be absent from the Celtic picture then Rodgers will be fielding more questions on his situation and we may get a firmer indication of what the future holds for the 22-year-old.
In other news, Fed up Chris Sutton has some scathing criticism for Celtic and calls for transfer action.
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