Exciting Academy prospect Daniel Kelly is reportedly set to agree a new three-year contract to remain at Celtic. It has been claimed that the youngster, who has been staring recently for the Celtic B team, is ready to sign professional terms with Celtic amid interest from the down south and on the continent.
Word in the Scottish mainstream media is that Kelly will finalise his new contract with Celtic by the end of this week, with Premier League sides Arsenal and Liverpool linked with making a move for the playmaker. Portuguese side Benfica have also been rumoured to be interested in the 16-year-old who was previously on a pre-pro-contact deal at Celtic Park.
Back in June 2020, Kelly put pen to paper on a four-year pre-professional contract with the Bhoys, keeping him at the Glasgow club until at least the summer of 2024, after the then-14-year-old had been attracting interest from a number of Europe’s leading clubs. That summer, it was reported that the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester City and Benfica were amongst the sides hoping to capture the midfielder from under Celtic’s noses.
16-year-old Kelly has continually impressed throughout Celtic’s various youth set-ups, playing Under-18 football from the age of 15, before being promoted this season into the Celtic B side who are currently playing in the Lowland League.
Kelly is viewed within the club as one who could potentially step up to the senior team in the not too distant future, so securing his signature will be seen as a massive coup, especially with recent disappointments in this regard with Celtic losing youth prospects such as Liam Morrison, Barry Hepburn and Liam Hughes. Rumours also persist that arguably out brightest prospect, Ben Doak, is on the brink of signing for Liverpool.
There is more good news on the youth front with rumours suggesting Celtic youngster Mitchel Frame is also set to sign a new deal with the club. Frame has been attracting interest from a trio of English Premier League teams including Tottenham, Wolves and Crystal Palace, who have all been keen on signing the highly-rated Scotland under-16s left-back. Fortunately however it looks like Celtic have fended of that interest to secure Frame on a new contract.
If true, this is a much needed boost for the club. As I mentioned earlier, most of the recent news surrounding our highly rated youth prospects has been negative, with Celtic losing a host of talent in recent years to clubs such as Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Manchester City. Hopefully this will set a new trend amongst the younger players, who surely must know that with Ange Postecoglou in charge, if they are good enough they will certainly get opportunities to impress in the senior squad.
The manager has touched upon it before, and is 100% correct when he states that at Celtic, seeing players transcend from youth prospects to mainstays in the first team set up is hugely important to both the club and the fans. Celtic fans love to see players coming through the underage set-ups to make it at the top, and if you look at the likes of James Forrest and Callum McGregor, historically those players are more likely to want to stay long term at the club rather than use it as a stepping stone.
Hopefully the young players themselves in the future will view Celtic as a better long term prospect than going down south. These big Premier League clubs have a system where they snap up as many young prospects as possible hoping to get the odd diamond, but opportunities at these clubs are minimal unless you are a truly special player, and for those who don’t quite cut the mustard their career can quickly slid into decline.
Celtic need to convince these players that staying at Parkhead will benefit their careers long term, and with Ange Postecoglou in charge I imagine that job won’t be as difficult as it was in the past.
Conall McGinty
