Pundit surprised “out of his depth” cup final starter not on his way out of Celtic

Former Premier League full-back , Alan Hutton has expressed his surprise at Celtic knocking back a loan bid for Lewis Morgan from Championship side Stoke City.

Speaking to Football Insider, Hutton explained why he felt it would be a good move for all parties concerned.

What has Hutton said?

Hutton was asked if he felt Morgan should look to gain more regular game time with a loan spell and said:

“Yeah I think because of injury, with Edouard picking up a knock though he’s been back recently, he’s been playing”.

“I think he was a little out of his depth in the final (against Rangers) if I’m honest, so I think a move like that would have really helped him”.

“He’s a young boy and he will want to play regular football, he’s not going to play week-in-week-out at Celtic, so ideally for him in this period of his career, you just want to play and get experience”.

“I’m surprised at that because Stoke are a massive club, yes they’re struggling currently, but they’re a huge club”.

“Yes, he could go there and really progress as a player as he’d be playing all the time and as a result, he’d go from strength to strength”.

Is Hutton correct?

If it wasn’t for a series of unfortunate events, Morgan would never have been starting recently, Vakoun Bayo is still recovering from injury, Leigh Griffiths isn’t match fit yet and Odsonne Edouard has also had a minor knock to contend with, then there is the Scott Sinclair “issue” that refuses to go away.

At 23-years-old, Morgan is approaching a key stage of his development, he needs to be playing regular games or his progression will stagnate.

One potential reason for Stoke’s approach being knocked back is obviously the fitness issues of the Hoops forward line, another is that Morgan’s manager at both St Mirren and Sunderland has recently taken the hot seat at Easter Road. Jack Ross has openly admitted he would like to be united with Morgan for a third time and perhaps the Parkhead hierarchy feel this would be a better move for the winger.

Morgan has shown he isn’t of the calibre needed to hold down a regular starting place in the green and white hoops and if an opportunity comes to get him in the shop window, it should seriously be considered, once all their strikers are fit, of course.