Former Celtic youth prospect Liam Hughes was named on the bench for Liverpool today in their win over Sheffield United. With Allison unavailable due to a family bereavement, Hughes was drafted in to deputise for Adrian between the sticks for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
The English Champions signed the 19-year-old during the January window as another promising youngster was prised away from Lennoxtown. The Irish goalie was one of two goalkeepers named by Klopp on Sunday night. Hughes played just 24 hours ago as the Liverpool Under-23s dismantled the Arsenal Under-23s on Saturday, keeping a clean sheet in the process.
Celtic have recently lost a number of highly-rated youngsters in recent months to teams like Manchester City and Bayern Munich. The issue is that some promising prodigies look for their break away from Celtic, with players like Karamoko Dembele and Armstrong Oxo-Flex appearing set to make their exits from the club in the summer.
Celtic need to provide a plan for young players coming through the academy and into the first team. Brendan Rodgers appeared to offer this but in recent seasons, there has been less of a focus on bringing through youngsters – with the exception of Jeremie Frimpong.