celtic have no plan or interest in any kid playing at the level hes at. he'll be released once his contract is up.
Considering he was playing in the Championship, which is probably a higher level than SPL, when he was a teenager, and had a senior international call-up from Mick, something has gone wrong. Either he had gone seriously backwards with his development or Celtic are squandering a genuine talent. Personally, I think the latter is quite possible.Originally Posted by Jd2793
my guess is that he never progressed after that bolton cameo and he just isnt a very good player. honestly, celtic may not have looked after some of their prospects optimally in the past but i struggle to see them loaning any 20 year old on their books with genuine ability to a scot l1 side for the 2nd season in a row.
also think boltons financial struggles played into his favour. if they didnt have them would we have any idea who he is now? judging by the fact hes playing with queens park, id say not.
You could be right, but he wasn’t just getting a game at Bolton he was impressing and getting himself an international call-up. Time will tell, but at least he’s been doing well at Queens Park however poor the standard in that division.
Yup - he probably wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity at 17 without Bolton struggling but… he was excellent playing for Bolton and by all accounts, he did really well with the irish squad till he got injured.
His performances for the 21s have been excellent. Every visual indication is that he’s an excellent young player, except his struggles at Celtic. But in recent times, every irish player who has signed there has really struggled. Okoflex, Afolabi, O’Connor, Connell, Coffey - all signed as genuine prospects, all have done nothing there. For example, if you compare Afolabi and Kayode - there’s no doubt Afolabi was far superior in summer 2019 - but he’s totally fallen off the radar - and there’s nothing in his game that he lacks, that Kayode has, it’s just about developmental opportunities. Lee O’Connor was well ahead of Danny McNamara at the same time. McNamara is playing two divisions higher than O’Connor now. So on, so on, so on…
The new crop (2003-2005) include Jonny Kenny, Bosun Lawal, Frankie Deane, Ben Quinn, Rocco Vata. Hopefully they’ll have better luck.
The issue is really Scotland’s. Celtic are stuck in a situation where their young players can’t play any meaningful games and can’t play quality opposition. As much as they’d like to develop good young players, compared to sides south of the border, they’re hamstrung.
The other thing that happened in recent years was they signed a tonne of cheap players with potential in their early 20s, hoping that they’d strike gold with a few of them. So they’ve always have a massive squad, like right now they seem to have a first team squad of 30 players, which is insane. So there’s about 12 first teamers starved of football - needing opportunities in cups etc, which leaves no room for youngsters to receive game time - and because there’s pressure to win every game, most of their recent managers have been reluctant to blood young kids who might make mistakes and cost you points.
By all accounts, the current manager is decent and should be a big improvement on Neil Lennon…
i watch coffey weekly at cork and know young lads who played him underage he was never spectacular. hes a pretty good loi first division player, not next or near spl quality.afolabi was relelased from southampton and had a great euros so celtic rolled the dice on him. hes another one struggling at a poor level in scotland. fact is celtic may not have done their level best developing these lads but nearly all of them arent near the level celtic need and proof is where they find themselves now.
Poor Students post summarizes the situation very well and accurately.
https://foot.ie/threads/239655-Luca-...=1#post2089830
Referencing Alofabi, you imply Connell is ‘struggling at a poor level in Scotland’ but actually he isn’t. He is playing pretty well and scoring. Here’s the paradox, it’s rare for a player to be excelling in a competitive league when they are a teenager, then being farmed out to a pub league 2 or 3 years later. Simply saying he was never any good in the first place is not an entirely convincing explanation. Maybe somebody else, somewhere else could have done more to nurture obvious potential and talent.
yeah theres no denying that but at some point the player has to prove themselves too. connell is playing at a standard thats closer to loi first division, Coffey is playing in Loi FD.If connell impressed last season why werent there better sides in the scot champ after him? these boys may at one stage or another looked to have potential but as is the way with the VAST majority of kids they dont end up at the elite level come the age of 20/21.
Hopefully they can all have good careers for themselves in the game, its very very hard to imagine any of those mentioned above apart from possibly lee oconnor , being called into the senior fold at this moment in time. Honestly, some LOI side should be chancing afolabi in the summer, he'll be back here sooner or later.
Funny thing is that Celtic fans raved about his pre-season performances last season.
That is the reality though how come there wasn't interest from a higher level side in connell this summer after last seasons loan? It's clearly the best level loan celtic and him could get that would allow him to play consistently. The only positive spin I can possibly think of is that celtic and luca took the decision that guaranteed first team football for the whole season was necessary to develop him physically given that he had played so little football for the last few years so they turned down moves to higher level sides where that guateentee of always playing couldn't matched.
Coffey never seemed to have the technical ability of connell but it seems has better athletic ability
They didn't really though. The same way they're not raving about Scales. He looked potentially useful but pre-season performances aren't worth putting much stock in. There's ample examples of Celtic bringing academy players into the side. This season Doak, Dembele, Moffat, Dawson and Murray have all been given a chance, Welsh has become 3rd choice centre half and Ralston 2nd choice RB. Okoflex aside, who seems to have been moved on due to attitude and an unsavoury social media episode, the rest of the Irish lads just haven't shown enough to be given an opportunity.
The Celtic fans did rave about Cornell’s pre season last season. Before the 20-21 season
Was that not just off one 45 minute run out that Lennon gave him having ignored him for the rest of the pre season? Think it was against a Hibs XI. He played a few nice floaty through balls, but raving about him is stretching it. I think they just thought he was someone who deserved another run out, which he never got.
I don't think Celtic have managed him well, but his complete lack of any kind of pace whatsoever looks to be a major limitation for him in terms of his career prospects.
He either has no agent or the worst agent in football. After doing ok at Queens Park last season he should have at least gotten a move to L2 in England on loan.
Something seems very weird with him
He has an agent, just ask Bolton fans and they'll tell you and they've got plenty of words to describe him too.
How does doing 'okay' in the Scottish, wholly part-time, 4th tier automatically lead to the English 4th tier though? It's fairly discouraging that he couldn't even muster up some interest from the second tier in Scotland. At least he's playing games but next season could be make or break for him having a career in full time ball.
Because he also had Bolton in the Championship on his resume from when he was 17. Theres a lot of sh1te in the lower english leagues. Oko Flex couldnt get near the Celtic 1st team and some how ended up at West Ham
Okoflex played twice for Celtic's 1st team
V Hibs: https://www.celticfc.com/news/2021/j...n-at-Paradise/
V Livingston: https://www.celticfc.com/news/2021/j...nd-Livingston/
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