As the attention this summer is quite rightly on the impressive incoming transfer business the club has been doing, the departure of some of our younger talents have gone under the radar somewhat. Luca Connell, Ewan Henderson, Jonathon Afolabi and Karamoko Dembele all departed this summer in spite of previous hopes that they would make the grade at Celtic Park.
Only Mickey Johnstone has really came through the ranks in the last 5 years and there are huge question marks in regard to whether he is good enough for the first team. So where are we going wrong as a club in terms of youth development and how much of the blame lies with the player themselves?
Clearly, the lack of a reserve league has hampered the development of our youth players, thankfully now the Lowland League is an opportunity for our young players to play more competitive football wearing the green and white. Likewise, the pressure for 3 points for every Celtic manager has made it difficult to blood youngsters other than in cup matches against lower league teams or when a game is already won and the competitive nature of the game is gone.
In order for us to develop our youth players and give them the opportunity to develop into the next Tierney, Forrest or McGregor we need to show faith and accept a few points may be lost in the short term but ultimately it will be worth it in the long term.
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