Celtic have recently completed a deal to sign former Southampton attacker Jonathan Afolabi. The Irish under-19 international has joined the Hoops on a three-year deal.
He seems to be a player that has been signed with an eye on the future, as he is 19. The player himself seems well aware of this.
He knows that he will have to impress to break into a Celtic first-team which has plenty of attacking talent.
“I’ll have to prove myself”
“It’s going to take time and hard work, I’ll have to prove myself to the manager” Afolabi said, in an interview on Celtic’s YouTube channel.
“Hopefully in the future I get a bit of time on the pitch to showcase what I’ve got.”
It seems likely that the player will be in the Celtic academy side for this season. However, Neil Lennon has not been afraid to give young players a chance in the first-team.
Manager has given young players a chance
Ewan Henderson, Mikey Johnston and Karamoko Dembele have featured for the first-team since Lennon took over as manager.
Should Afolabi impress for the academy side, then he may get his first-team chance sooner than he thinks. Even if that is only an appearance as a substitute, it would do the player the power of good in the long run.
Afolabi is a player who has been signed for the future – but you can’t discount him making a first-appearance this season.
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