The shrewd manoeuvre Celtic facilitated to ease Champions League homegrown dilemma

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Celtic have submitted their Champions League squad, and there are no major surprises as the Bhoys prepare for a tilt at the league phase.

Brendan Rodgers’ men face four exciting home ties and another quartet away from Celtic Park, with trips to Borussia Dortmund, Atalanta and Aston Villa arguably the pick of the bunch.

Yesterday, Celtic’s official squad became available ahead of the tournament and most of whom included will be expected to play a part over the next few months.

Late summer arrivals Arne Engels, Luke McCowan, Auston Trusty and Alex Valle were all selected. However, Odin Thiago Holm has become the unfortunate one to miss out.

However, it is worth noting that fringe man Adam Montgomery is available for involvement despite not kicking a ball for Celtic in nearly two years. Reading between the lines, he has played an important role in being able to ensure Rodgers has a strong pool of depth to choose from in the league phase.

Adam Montgomery’s surprise Champions League squad inclusion

Back in May, Celtic announced that Montgomery had signed a new one-year contract at the club despite being a peripheral figure who has spent time out on loan at Aberdeen, St Johnstone, Fleetwood Town and Motherwell in recent years.

Despite confusion over his status, the Bhoys may have made a smart ploy to maximise the quality of their squad to compete in the Champions League.

In short, Celtic need to have a minimum of eight ‘locally-trained’ players to fit squad registration rules for continental competitions.

Four of these must be ‘club-trained’ to even it out. Montgomery counts in that bracket, joining Anthony Ralston, Stephen Welsh, Callum McGregor and James Forrest in making the squad. They have all been at Celtic Park for three years between the ages of 15 and 21, fitting the brief.

Including five individuals via this mechanism leaves Luke McCowan, Scott Bain, and Greg Taylor to fill ‘association-trained’ slots. The trio learned their trade in Scottish football across the same timeframe.

If Montgomery hadn’t been selected, Celtic might have had to recruit two homegrown players in the summer window to ensure they had eight ‘locally-trained’ assets available, or they’d have potentially needed to register a youth player.

Overall, the club look to have made a wise move here to avoid unwanted complications.