Celtic contract holdout Daniel Kelly made a first appearance since Brendan Rodgers publicly stated the player was stalling on a new deal. The 18-year-old scored the winning goal for Celtic’s B Team as they beat Cumbernauld Colts 1-0 in their opening game.
Kelly has made six appearances for the first team, scoring once with a thumping effort against Dundee. It was expected that he would really push on under Brendan, who has an excellent track record of developing players. Although, interest from the Premier League has potentially turned the player’s head.
Celtic’s Academy Player of the Year last season was expected to play a big part in the forthcoming season but for contract talks to stall. Rather than having him around the first team, Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers relegated the player to the B Team and didn’t take him to the USA for the pre-season games against DC United, Manchester City and Chelsea.
Daniel Kelly of Celtic vies with Stuart Knight of Buckie Thistl during the the Celtic v Buckie Thistle – Scottish Cup match at Celtic Park on January 21, 2024 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
The club are likely to continue their discussions to keep the player but you do fear that if he doesn’t sign up then he will be moved on. Hopefully, a deal is forthcoming.
Rodgers’ comments about Kelly and Vata made it clear that he would be taking control of the situation and not allowing prospects to dictate the outcome of contract talks.