Luca Connell (D/M Barnsley b.2001)

[Poor Student]

I don’t really buy it. If we take, currently eligible for u21 football as our cutoff for a young player, from their current first team squad, we have:

Murray - 2 appearances
Welsh - 22 appearances
O’Riley - 11 appearances (bought in Jan 22)
Dembele - 1 appearance
Abada - 46 appearances (bought in July 21)
Dawson - 1 appearance
Moffat - 3 appearances
Doak - 2 appearances

(Appearances this season)

So if you remove the 2 ready made first teamers who never spent time in the academy, you’re basically just left with Welsh - who has been given any significant game time and he’s played 9 of 30 league games this season and the rest were in other competitions, so it’s not like he’s been able to fully establish himself.

I don’t really think that’s an abundance of young players coming through or anything like that. I’d suspect if you compared that to premier league sides, Celtic would be well below average

Why limit it by age when you'd evaluate the success of an academy over a long period of time? In terms of academy products playing regularly you've got Forrest, McGregor, Ralston (who just broke in at 22/23) and Johnston. Kris Ajer was bought by Brentford in the summer and Leeds signed Leo Hjelde at 17 as he was about to break through. Kieran Tierney is another recent high profile graduate. Dembele would have probably featured more but he has been injured all season.

This summer Celtic signed Osaze Urhoghide, 21 years old last July, had made 16 Champ appearances for Sheff Wed last season and Liam Shaw, 21 years old, 19 Champ appearances last season for Sheff Wed. They could both be described as hot prospects and you can find instances of Sheff Wed fans raving about them on the internet if you look around. Ostensibly they look like steals, young players holding down a Championship level first team place and it is afterall a better league than the Scottish Premiership. Urhoghide has zero technique and poor positioning, he's just a bit strong fast athlete and he's now been loaned out to Belgium. Shaw looks slightly better but also looks nowhere near good enough to make an impact and he's been loaned out to Motherwell. It looks like bad scouting and bad signings. This seems to be the case with Afolabi, O'Connor and Connell. Shortly after arriving it's clear they're not actually good enough to make an impact. Sometimes you have a late bloomer like Anthony Ralston and Liam Miller but more often than not the path they're on leads to not much more than L1/L2 in England.

[seanfhear]

he wasnt given a chance because one can safely assume he wasnt good enough. people are going way over the top with those handful of appearances he made for a penniless bolton.
He was probably played because Bolton would have had to pay appearance fees to other players.

Why are Celtic sabotaging young players ? ? Of course that makes no sense what so ever = = Occam's Razor would explain this as follows = = The simplest solution is that the players are Not good enough.

[Poor Student]

Interesting that you’ve isolated the last 7 words of my post which is really a minor sidenote to the main thrust of my post - that Connell went to Scotland a hot prospect with Championship experience, an international call up and a large amount of credit in the bank. Bottom line, Celtic was a really bad move for him and he arguably wasn’t given the chance that his appearances with Bolton had seemingly merited.

In any event, despite the throwaway nature of my parting comment, I’m not sure what your counterpoint actually is. Don’t look at Celtic in relation to those three players that didn’t make it, look at this other guy who also didn’t make it and these two who might make it but haven’t? “they don’t appear to”… what?

They don't appear "to have what it takes", apologies for the incomplete sentence.

JD2793 probably summarised the thrust of my point better than myself "he wasnt given a chance because one can safely assume he wasnt good enough. people are going way over the top with those handful of appearances he made for a penniless bolton". If you take a single cohort at an underage club team or underage international team, most in that team don't make it at that club level or most don't go on to become a regular in the international team. Just because Connell made 10 appearances for a Bolton in disarray and their fans thought he did well under the circumstances it doesn't mean he has to make it. If he has the requisite ability to play regularly at English Championship level then he will surface there. Elatedscum above described Jeremie Frimpong as a "ready made first teamer". He had in fact been signed at 18 years old without having made a single first team appearance in his career but had no problem going into the first team because he was quality and now he's flourishing at Bayer Leverkusen. He joined Celtic the same season as Luca Connell.

[SkStu]

Agreed. Nobody has a right to make it and players at every level will usually be required to “re-prove” themselves to some extent. This definitely applies to Connell going to Celtic. I did say they seemingly did his potential a disservice, and those qualifications were intentional. He was very high potential and someone I think we’d have all thought - at the time of the move - would have got more chances with the first team.

My original post was to offer some balance to the posts that were trying to rewrite his time at Bolton that he wasn’t really that good and that he caught a lucky break v having the ability. It’s not true. The evidence is there if you look back at Bolton fans, Irish fans, his 12 Championship appearances in half a season and the fact that he was earning positive (sometimes rave) reviews for them - not to mention the Irish senior call up. None of that should be disputed in trying to explain away his failure to make it - so far - at Celtic.

I think Celtic was a bad move to a badly set up football structure for a youngster with potential. There will always be a handful of exceptions to such a generalized statement. All that said, I’m happy to withdraw the last 7 words of my original post and let the remainder of it stand on its own merits.

[sadloserkid]

He played in 10 league games (the other 2 were FA Cup), Bolton drew the first and lost the other 9. The whole team scored 3 goals in those 10 league games. The team won 3 league games in that same time frame and he played 0 minutes in these games. He did okay in that time but the farcical nature of the club has to be taken into account in weighing up those games. The Bolton fans can be forgiven for clutching at any faint cause for optimism given the mess they were in.

He's still young and, as I've said above, I wouldn't rush to write him off but he has a LOT to do and playing in the Scottish third tier isn't encouraging.

On an aside what players have played for Ireland after spells in 3rd/4th tier in Scotland? Tommy Coyne or Bernie Slaven maybe?

[SkStu]

He played in 10 league games (the other 2 were FA Cup), Bolton drew the first and lost the other 9. The whole team scored 3 goals in those 10 league games. The team won 3 league games in that same time frame and he played 0 minutes in these games. He did okay in that time but the farcical nature of the club has to be taken into account in weighing up those games. The Bolton fans can be forgiven for clutching at any faint cause for optimism given the mess they were in.

Even if that is true, and i think it is a massive and unfair assumption that Bolton fans couldnt reasonably evaluate a player in those circumstances, what excuse do you want to put forward for McCarthy's evaluation of him and the loud calls from irish fans and fan media that he was worthy of a call up on the back of those 12 appearances?

[JR89]

Even if that is true, and i think it is a massive and unfair assumption that Bolton fans couldnt reasonably evaluate a player in those circumstances, what excuse do you want to put forward for McCarthy's evaluation of him and the loud calls from irish fans and fan media that he was worthy of a call up on the back of those 12 appearances?

https://www.otbsports.com/soccer/can-shift-spray-50-yards-former-international-luca-connell-862507

Curtis Fleming was full of praise when Kilbane was interviewing him after his call into the Ireland training camp. Fleming would have seen him up close when they played Bolton.

[sadloserkid]

Even if that is true, and i think it is a massive and unfair assumption that Bolton fans couldnt reasonably evaluate a player in those circumstances, what excuse do you want to put forward for McCarthy's evaluation of him and the loud calls from irish fans and fan media that he was worthy of a call up on the back of those 12 appearances?

McCarthy wanted a look at him because he was playing, briefly, in the Championship. Irish fans and media are always ready to believe that any footballer with a whisper of potential and Irish eligibility is a hero ready to blossom. And whatever McCarthy, you and I and the boys on Bolton.web's forum thought at the time everything since then suggests maybe he wasn't terrific after all. As far as making excuses go it reads to me as you making excuses for the last three or so seasons of his club career on the grounds that he played for Bolton 10 times and got 1 point in the league when he was 17. You've plenty of questions here Stu. Any chance of a few answers?

1) Do you think it reflects even a little on Connell that his Championship stint went 0-1-9? Especially given how much better they performed without him in the team in the same time frame? Or do you have an excuse to put on the table for this one? The other players? The circus of a club? He was part of all that surely?

2) If he was as nailed on a prospect as you seem to suggest why did he sign for Celtic? Rather than another Championship club? Or even a Premier League club? In your opinion, obviously we're all speculating here?

3) If he was thriving in the English Championship why couldn't he get anywhere near the Celtic squad for a competitive game of any description?

4) Why didn't McCarthy cap him? Again, in your opinion, my guess is that it's because he wasn't good enough. And, to be fair to him, why should he have been at that age and point in his career?

5) Why has no team in the Scottish second tier, let alone the SPL, touched him on loan? Ditto for the English 3rd of 4th tier.

He played less games in the Championship than Shane O'Connor did with Ipswich. He's potentially as likely going to have a career of that standard as ever play in a league as competitive as the English second tier again. I hope I'm completely wrong but I don't think that my believing he's at an absolutely critical juncture in his career is an outrageous take.

[third policeman]

I'm not sure that Bolton's results in the games that Connell played in are hardly relevant, especially as one of your arguments thus far has been the club were in effective free fall when he got his opportunity. The fact that he impressed fans and others whilst his team were struggling is to his credit. He's also played well when picked for the Under 21's, and is seemingly impressing albeit at a very low level at Queens Park. The fact is we don't know how he would perform if given a first team opportunity, because he hasn't been given one, except in a pre-season game where again he seems to have impressed fans. It's perfectly possible that he's not as good as his early promise implied, but it's equally possible that his development has been stunted by the way he's been treated at Celtic. There are very few nailed-on prospects but it sounds a bit like revisionism to suggest that Connell's promise was all hype and wishful thinking.

[tetsujin1979]

1) Do you think it reflects even a little on Connell that his Championship stint went 0-1-9? Especially given how much better they performed without him in the team in the same time frame? Or do you have an excuse to put on the table for this one? The other players? The circus of a club? He was part of all that surely?
Not really, from January 2019 (when Connell made his debut) to the end of the season, Bolton went 3-1-17 in the league. So 0-1-9 with him, and 3-0-8 without him. Not that much better.


4) Why didn't McCarthy cap him? Again, in your opinion, my guess is that it's because he wasn't good enough. And, to be fair to him, why should he have been at that age and point in his career?

He was injured and had to pull out off the squad he was called into
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2019/0529/1052423-luca-connell-out-of-irelands-euro-2020-qualifiers/

[SkStu]

I'm not sure that Bolton's results in the games that Connell played in are hardly relevant, especially as one of your arguments thus far has been the club were in effective free fall when he got his opportunity. The fact that he impressed fans and others whilst his team were struggling is to his credit. He's also played well when picked for the Under 21's, and is seemingly impressing albeit at a very low level at Queens Park. The fact is we don't know how he would perform if given a first team opportunity, because he hasn't been given one, except in a pre-season game where again he seems to have impressed fans. It's perfectly possible that he's not as good as his early promise implied, but it's equally possible that his development has been stunted by the way he's been treated at Celtic. There are very few nailed-on prospects but it sounds a bit like revisionism to suggest that Connell's promise was all hype and wishful thinking.

Well said. And it is really all i was saying originally.

[SkStu]

McCarthy wanted a look at him because he was playing, briefly, in the Championship. Irish fans and media are always ready to believe that any footballer with a whisper of potential and Irish eligibility is a hero ready to blossom. And whatever McCarthy, you and I and the boys on Bolton.web's forum thought at the time everything since then suggests maybe he wasn't terrific after all. As far as making excuses go it reads to me as you making excuses for the last three or so seasons of his club career on the grounds that he played for Bolton 10 times and got 1 point in the league when he was 17. You've plenty of questions here Stu. Any chance of a few answers?

Sorry - i was out and about and wanted to try and reply to each question as best as i could so home now and ill give it a go! :) despite your assertion, I haven't actually asked many questions at all in any of my posts, one or two maybe, and deffo not as many as you have just asked me!! I mostly just offered an opinion that he was actually quite good for Bolton and the events and sentiments at the time back that up and shouldn't attempt to be invalidated which is what was going on a few days ago. Generally speaking you and some others are feeling that it is appropriate to dismiss the fact that this guy was (is?) high potential because he has failed to make the grade at Celtic. I think that is revisionist and it is too simplistic an approach to casually dismiss every indicator put forward to support the notion that he was a player who performed well in that period. I think it is fair to question Celtic's role (as well as Connell's) in his career trajectory and whether they have failed to capitalize on his high potential. At the time of his announcement, they themselves noted in their press release how highly rated a youngster he is and which merited them spending 350k on the 18 year old.


1) Do you think it reflects even a little on Connell that his Championship stint went 0-1-9? Especially given how much better they performed without him in the team in the same time frame? Or do you have an excuse to put on the table for this one? The other players? The circus of a club? He was part of all that surely?

It is a team game so of course it reflects on Connell. So do the very positive reviews of his performances in those games reflect on him. Bolton lost 21 games in that period since he made his debut. Wow - so much better :D They. of course, won an FA Cup game that he played in and he got an assist in the next round.


2) If he was as nailed on a prospect as you seem to suggest why did he sign for Celtic? Rather than another Championship club? Or even a Premier League club? In your opinion, obviously we're all speculating here?

He is a massive Celtic fan and possibly got bad advice from his agent. Wolves, Norwich, Spurs, Burnley and Sheffield United were all tracking his progress while Brighton and Southampton failed with bids to land him according to a quick google of the articles around that time. There is no such thing as a nailed on prospect. He was high potential, he was highly rated. Thats all i ever said. Read my posts.


3) If he was thriving in the English Championship why couldn't he get anywhere near the Celtic squad for a competitive game of any description?

He was sent into the first team squad immediately. He was on the bench a few times. It seemed to gradually go south. There are a number of forums and articles where Celtic fans were impressed with what they saw, are impressed with how dominant he has been for Queens Park and have called to see more of him.


4) Why didn't McCarthy cap him? Again, in your opinion, my guess is that it's because he wasn't good enough. And, to be fair to him, why should he have been at that age and point in his career?

Ummm because he was injured during the camp which i thought was fairly common knowledge. McCarthy had said that Connell would be keeping his place in the squad after impressing during the training camp (Mick had initially just called him up for that).


5) Why has no team in the Scottish second tier, let alone the SPL, touched him on loan? Ditto for the English 3rd of 4th tier.

Thats as much to do with Celtic - and their relationship with Queens Park - and Luca himself as anything else. He has done really, really well for Queens Park and maybe they all are just happy enough with that as the best path for him. It's probably not simply because he's crap. Which seems to be the prevailing theme of your post.


He played less games in the Championship than Shane O'Connor did with Ipswich. He's potentially as likely going to have a career of that standard as ever play in a league as competitive as the English second tier again. I hope I'm completely wrong but I don't think that my believing he's at an absolutely critical juncture in his career is an outrageous take.

Of course he is at a critical juncture (or will be this summer). He is 20 and needs to push up a level or two to fulfil the potential that seemingly everyone but a few Irish fans seem to acknowledge. Who here said that this was an outrageous take?

[elatedscum]

2) If he was as nailed on a prospect as you seem to suggest why did he sign for Celtic? Rather than another Championship club? Or even a Premier League club? In your opinion, obviously we're all speculating here?



Any club in England would have had to go to tribunal and pay an unspecified amount - and for a 17 year old who had played 10 championship games - that would almost certainly have been a seven figure sum. He may well have been an international footballer which would bump the price up further.

Celtic wouldn’t have to pay anything except a nominal training fee, so money they could save on the compensation they could put straight to his wages making their offer the much more attractive. Pretty sure there were about a dozen clubs who made contact including Spurs, Brighton and Burnley

[elatedscum]

. The Irish prospects to watch at Celtic are Bosun Lawal and Rocco Vata.

Interesting that they gave Jonny Kenny a squad number and didn’t give Bosun one while both the same year (2003)

Thoughts on Frankie Deane, Ben Quinn? I think the 2004 kids in general are underrated because they were u16s when the pandemic started and u18s when it ended, the only age group to not have any competitive underage international football, so the players, except Ferguson are far less well known…

Quinn was certainly one of the most highly thought of from that age group when he left ireland. Deane’s Celtic manager has compared him to Pirlo and xavi. Both are certainly more than non-prospects

Personally I still rate Luca above all them

[Eirambler]

I think giving Kenny a squad number was just part of convincing him to sign for Celtic instead of Hibs - to make him feel like they see him as a genuine prospect and not just another cheap Celtic punt. Of course, once he has signed on the dotted line, he has been sent straight down to the Lowland League team just like all the others.

[Jd2793]

I think giving Kenny a squad number was just part of convincing him to sign for Celtic instead of Hibs - to make him feel like they see him as a genuine prospect and not just another cheap Celtic punt. Of course, once he has signed on the dotted line, he has been sent straight down to the Lowland League team just like all the others.

he had one full season of senior loi football at 18, is that enough to be a viable member of celtics first team? not a chance imo, better hes getting games. hopefully a loan move is sorted for next season to let him progress.

[Eirambler]

I would suggest it would have been better for him to move to a club where he would have had a realistic chance of playing in a stronger league than the one he was already in, rather than joining a team where his only hope of game time is in a division multiple levels below the League of Ireland premier where he was playing with Sligo last year.

Maybe he'll get out on loan next year, but best case scenario it will be to Ayr United or Dunfermline or somewhere. Not sure that's going to do any more for his career than it did for Jonathan Afolabi or Luca Connell.

Incidentally, when Kenny chose Celtic over Hibs, Hibs turned their attention to their second choice pick for the developing striker position they wanted to fill - a teenage Norwegian forward called Elias Melkerson - and ended up signing him instead. He scored twice yesterday in their Scottish Cup quarter final win over Motherwell. That could easily have been Kenny, playing and scoring at a decent level of football. This is where the issue is with Celtic and young Irish players, it's the experience that the likes of Kenny and Connell miss out on by going there that costs them in the end.

[Stuttgart88]

Ross Tierney apparently advised Kenny not to join Celtic.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/scottish/gossip

And Connor Ronan tipped for a call up.

[Jd2793]

I would suggest it would have been better for him to move to a club where he would have had a realistic chance of playing in a stronger league than the one he was already in, rather than joining a team where his only hope of game time is in a division multiple levels below the League of Ireland premier where he was playing with Sligo last year.

Maybe he'll get out on loan next year, but best case scenario it will be to Ayr United or Dunfermline or somewhere. Not sure that's going to do any more for his career than it did for Jonathan Afolabi or Luca Connell.

Incidentally, when Kenny chose Celtic over Hibs, Hibs turned their attention to their second choice pick for the developing striker position they wanted to fill - a teenage Norwegian forward called Elias Melkerson - and ended up signing him instead. He scored twice yesterday in their Scottish Cup quarter final win over Motherwell. That could easily have been Kenny, playing and scoring at a decent level of football. This is where the issue is with Celtic and young Irish players, it's the experience that the likes of Kenny and Connell miss out on by going there that costs them in the end.

why are you comparing him to connel and afolabi? this idea that celtic dont give a toss about young irish lads is comical. theyve paid a pittance for them , its in their own interest to develop these players to play first team football so they dont have to blow big money on imports. if the kids are good enough their quality will shine though (in most cases) . thats not to say celtic dont make bad decisions with younger players development but at some point it must come down to the player. at present neither connell or afolabi have done anything on loan to merit being a celtic first team player.

[Eirambler]

Again, it's about getting these players football at a suitable level at a young age. Kenny isn't good enough for the Celtic first team, but coming off a full LoI season he's also wasting his time in the Lowland League - that division is fine for 15/16 year olds like Rocco Vata but after that it's a waste of time in terms of player development.

It's not about whether Celtic want to develop these players or not, I'm sure they do - it's that they're just perpetually unable to do it. Connell, Afolabi, Lawal, Kenny etc. Different player, same story unfortunately.

[Eirambler]

And just to reinforce the point about the kind of footballing development these lads are getting, take a look at the state of the pitch from the Queen's Park game against Partick Thistle at the weekend. It's more like a greyhound track. Luca Connell is the player in possession in the centre circle at the very start of this clip...

1503362940233207812

Tell me how is any player supposed to develop to their full potential in that environment?

[elatedscum]

One thing worth mentioning is, it’s not all Celtic’s fault or within their control. They’ve campaigned for a proper reserve league and they've campaigned to have their B team played higher up the ladder. They and rangers have both campaigned but haven’t been able to get that through. So structurally it’s a really difficult place for young players to develop, because they play almost no matches and the ones they play are of low quality and meaningless.

For most Scottish teams that antidote to this is bringing talented young players to the fore very early. Take for example, Hamilton playing James McCarthy and James McArthur from 16. Look at Ross Tierney going in and playing straight away.

The problem at Celtic is a) they always have a huge squad, so game time is far harder to come by and b) the standard that young player initially has to reach is well above what it would be at Motherwell or wherever c) the requirements to win every game often mean that trying with a promising young player and the mistakes they make is a risk not worth taking

If you look at Dembele and Okoflex - Celtic used the fact they didn’t need to pay compensation to entice both to move, increasing their pay and offering them a route quickly to first team football. Dembele was so highly rated at Chelsea - if you look at Hudson Odoi’s development - maybe that would be Dembele’s path now if he had stayed at Chelsea, where he was breaking into the first team side at 17. Meanwhile, Okoflex was rated higher than Saka at Arsenal when he left. They spent a lot of time playing in the same underage sides. Maybe Saka would always have been the much better player - but also if Okoflex had stayed, maybe those years of stagnation wouldn’t have happened.

[Fixer82]

Ronan Darcy looks good. Must be Irish

[pateen]

For sure, it's not like any Irishman ever emigrated to Scotland 😄

[elatedscum]

For sure, it's not like any Irishman ever emigrated to Scotland 😄

Liverpool - darcy’s scouse

[Fixer82]

You’d imagine though with a first name like Ronan, he’s not 5th or 6th generation Irish

[Rayzor]

If you look at Dembele and Okoflex - Celtic used the fact they didn’t need to pay compensation to entice both to move, increasing their pay and offering them a route quickly to first team football. Dembele was so highly rated at Chelsea - if you look at Hudson Odoi’s development - maybe that would be Dembele’s path now if he had stayed at Chelsea, where he was breaking into the first team side at 17. Meanwhile, Okoflex was rated higher than Saka at Arsenal when he left. They spent a lot of time playing in the same underage sides. Maybe Saka would always have been the much better player - but also if Okoflex had stayed, maybe those years of stagnation wouldn’t have happened.

The Dembele at Celtic is Karomoko Dembele, he was never at Chelsea, as Okoflex, he was getting close to be around the first team but with the papers picking his comment to that 8 yr on instagram, that ended his chances of ever playing for Celtic again.

[tommy_c12000]

Started today in Queens Park 2-1 win getting them promoted to Scottish championship. 2nd successive season Luca has been involved in successful promotion albeit at a low level. Afolabi seemed to come into some form at end of season, scoring in the semi final, winning a Peno in first leg final, and finally starting today. Both players long shots to make it at Celtic at this stage….

[JR89]

Being a free agent should give him more leeway in finding the right club. Seems it was a three years contract with an option for a fourth year. Always thought he was signed up till next year.

1532733011883704321

[Exgrad]

What a waste of three years.

[irishfan86]

Being a free agent should give him more leeway in finding the right club. Seems it was a three years contract with an option for a fourth year. Always thought he was signed up till next year.

1532733011883704321

Only seen him a couple of times but really liked the look of him. Really hoping he gets a proper chance somewhere.

[tommy_c12000]

He’s talented, a bit slow though. This is the best outcome for him. He’s still only 21 and at least has two full seasons of senior football behind him, albeit at low level.

His next move will be interesting. He is a player better suited to the continent, similar to Kilkenny. I’m sure Owen Coyle will be interested at Queens Park. Will Jim Goodwin be interested? I doubt it. Scottish Championship or League 1 are the most likely destinations, the continent would be great however

[Olé Olé]

He’s talented, a bit slow though. This is the best outcome for him. He’s still only 21 and at least has two full seasons of senior football behind him, albeit at low level.

His next move will be interesting. He is a player better suited to the continent, similar to Kilkenny. I’m sure Owen Coyle will be interested at Queens Park. Will Jim Goodwin be interested? I doubt it. Scottish Championship or League 1 are the most likely destinations, the continent would be great however
I don't expect anything outside the box/UK if he still has the same agent that brought him to Celtic and let him go on loan to Scotland's League Two and One, so shortly after him having had Championship games and his high water mark having been at a certain level.

[tetsujin1979]

It's rare that any player from Scottish league one goes to a club on the continent

[Eirambler]

He has no profile at this point outside of people who watch Scottish lower league football and people who follow Irish underage players. That's not a good position to be in as a free agent.

He has likely made a decent amount of money from his time at Celtic (he was signed as a first team squad player, not a youth player) but his long term career has suffered as a result of the move.

If he can get an English League 2 club to offer him a year or two as a starting point to rebuild his career, that's about as much as he can hope for. Otherwise he may just end up signing permanently for Queens Park.

[nigel-harps1954]

He could do worse than look to one of the Irish clubs in European action this summer. A six month contract and put himself in the shop window again for the winter.

[elatedscum]

He has no profile at this point outside of people who watch Scottish lower league football and people who follow Irish underage players. That's not a good position to be in as a free agent.

He has likely made a decent amount of money from his time at Celtic (he was signed as a first team squad player, not a youth player) but his long term career has suffered as a result of the move.

If he can get an English League 2 club to offer him a year or two as a starting point to rebuild his career, that's about as much as he can hope for. Otherwise he may just end up signing permanently for Queens Park.

You’d imagine Bolton in L1 would be interested

[pineapple stu]

Linked with a move to League 1 Fleetwood, managed by Scott Brown - https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/sport/football/8965387/scott-brown-celtic-luca-connell/

I guess he could do worse

[Eirambler]

They were the worst team to stay up in League 1 - stayed up on goal difference. But still, that's a decent move for him if he could get it, given where he's coming from.

[sadloserkid]

I've been hugely sceptical of Connell obviously but, at 21, a poor League 1 team wouldn't be a bad place for him to try and regroup. Brown obviously knows him too and might show some patience.

[JR89]

Think this would be a bad move. They say beggars can't be choosers but if you're looking at Fleetwood, a team barely lucky to survive relegation and now appoint a rookie manager in Scott Brown you'd be better off dropping another division to League Two. Join a club who'll be pushing for promotion because look at the difference between Coventry at Peterborough and then at MK Dons.

[Jd2793]

Think this would be a bad move. They say beggars can't be choosers but if you're looking at Fleetwood, a team barely lucky to survive relegation and now appoint a rookie manager in Scott Brown you'd be better off dropping another division to League Two. Join a club who'll be pushing for promotion because look at the difference between Coventry at Peterborough and then at MK Dons.

if he was good enough a promotion candidate would be in for him its as simple as that.

[JR89]

if he was good enough a promotion candidate would be in for him its as simple as that.

And he was only released a couple of days ago so no one really knows who exactly is interested in him or who else will show interest. The Fleetwood link probably only got a mention in the paper because of the Scott Brown link.

[Razors left peg]

if he was good enough a promotion candidate would be in for him its as simple as that.

Its not as simple as that. Scouting in England is lazy and haphazard at the best of times. Moves are often made because of who you know and how good your agent is, particularly in the lower leagues. Teams often just "take a punt" on players and hope for the best.

[pineapple stu]

And a player from the Scottish third tier doesn't exactly get to knock on the door of a manager of a team pushing for promotion from the English third tier (or fourth tier even) and demand a contract either.

It's early in pre-season; if a better club comes in, happy days. As it is, interest from Fleetwood is already better than maybe could have been expected.

[JR89]

That's what trials are for, to try and impress a club manager and earn a contract. And there's not one quote so who knows if Fleetwood are even interested and it's just lazy journalism during silly season.

[JR89]

Signs for Barnsley on a three year deal. Finished bottom of the Championship last season so hopefully will be up there around the top of League One.

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[Exgrad]

Thats a decent move for him, hopefully he gets a good run with them.

[tetsujin1979]

Good move for him. Just turned 21, still time for him to have a good career

[JR89]

Likes his team's to play football and you've also got William Hondermarck there as well at Barnsley. If they give Duff time he'll do well which should benefit Connell and hopefully Hondermarck too.