Celtic’s Rocco Vata Mystery

What is Rocco Vata’s situation at Celtic? Have there been any developments since the transfer window opened? Is the club trying to keep one of the Celtic Academy’s top talents at the club or will he walk out the door unwanted?…

28th December 2022 Easter Road, Edinburgh, Scotland: Scottish Premiership Football, Hibernian versus Celtic Rocco Vata on the ball. Photo Vagelis Georgariou

Rocco Vata’s future at Celtic has increasingly looked less promising as the 2023/24 season has progressed, with now just six months remaining on his current deal. Speculation mounted regarding the teenager’s future in the summer, when the club reportedly rejected a bid of £550k from Serie A side Torino.

Sports journalist Scott Burns, who reported on the story, also added that Vata was keen to explore the move at the time, although that does appear to have been inaccurate. It is widely recognised that if the 18-year-old had signed a new contract in the summer, he would have been given a loan move, with neither events ultimately transpiring.

Vata could of course argue that there’s never been any contract put in front of him to sign, by Celtic anyway.

Celtic v Motherwell – cinch Premiership – Celtic Park Celtics Rocco Vata during the cinch Premiership match at Celtic Park, Saturday April 22, 2023. Photo Steve Welsh

On X (twitter.com) Sky Sports journalist Anthony Joseph then reported last month that Serie A side Sampdoria were interested in Vata, and that Celtic had NOT made any official contact offer for the player, thus confirming The Celtic Star’s reports on this saga.

The Irish u21 international has scored 12 times across 13 games for the B team this season, along with scoring twice on his debut for the Ireland u21’s.

Vata looked poised for a breakthrough season under Brendan Rodgers after featuring four times off the bench under Ange Postecoglou last season, and due to the winger’s good form this season, many fans have called for the player to be re-introduced back into the first team set-up.

Brendan Rodgers and James Forrest are seen during the Cinch Scottish Premiership match between Celtic and Livingston at Celtic Park on December 23, 2023. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

It appears that the B Team players who were training with the first team at the end of last season, were sent back as Rodgers began the evaluation process on an already bloated first team squad at Lennoxtown, as project after project arrived to crowd the place further. One of the clear losers from all of that has been Rocco Vata personally and maybe Celtic in the longer term.

The situation should reach its head this month, with the departure of another promising academy prospect in looking likely. If Vata does leave this month – or agrees a pre-contract elsewhere – he will join a lengthy list of talented youth players who have departed Celtic in recent years, as the club continues to fail to provide a pathway for academy prospects into the first team.

James Forrest watches a young Rocco Vata’s doing some tricks

Frustratingly Brendan Rodgers hasn’t really had a chance to see what Rocco Vata can do, so it seems bizarre that he’s allowing a top talent who has been at club for a decade, to walk out the door.

James French