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‘It’s doubtful’: Andy Walker can’t see 23-year-old Celtic player starting much at all this season
Celtic’s defensive injury problems have been well-documented over the course of the past few weeks.
With Cameron Carter-Vickers and Maik Nawrocki, Stephen Welsh and Yuki Kobayashi all out at the same time for Celtic, Liam Scales and Gustaf Lagerbielke were the only two recognised centre-backs at one point.
Admittedly, Kobayashi is now back training and Scales and Lagerbielke have both equipped themselves well, but Andy Walker reckons that Stephen Welsh is going to struggle for minutes when Carter-Vickers and Nawrocki both return from injury.
When asked if Celtic made a mistake by letting Jack Hendry leave two summers ago, Walker said [], “Well, possibly, but you look at anyone that left Celtic and have continued the level of success.
“And I think it goes back to what we’ve always said about young players being given an opportunity at Celtic and Rangers and at some of the bigger clubs. It’s so hard to nail down a place to get a game every week.
“Stephen Welsh at Celtic, he started last season with the first goal of the season I think and then didn’t really get a lot of game time. It’s doubtful whether he’ll get a lot of game time this time around.
“Liam Scales, how many games is he going to get when Celtic have got [Maik] Nawrocki fit and when Carter Vickers is back the likelihood is he’ll revert back to the bench.
“It’s really difficult to nail your police down when you’re a young Scot playing for one of the biggest clubs in Scotland.”
Offering Welsh a new contract was viewed as a strange decision by many Celtic fans. A player who has hardly featured for Celtic over the past two seasons and was tipped to leave the club seemed to have turned his fortunes around with the arrival of Brendan Rodgers.
But his luck took a turn for the worse when he got injured in training and was ruled out for four months and it seems, according to Walker, that his luck won’t change much when he returns and tries to make his mark in the Celtic first-team.
In other news, Sheffield United snap up ‘promising’ 18-year-old Celtic academy prospect