Brendan Rodgers confirmed in his media conference yesterday that Stephen Welsh is on the brink of sealing a six-month loan deal to Belgian Pro League side KV Mechelen…
The 51 year-old Celtic boss also explained Stephen Welsh exiting the club has paved the way for Dane Murray’s loan spell at Queens Park to be cut short in order to fulfil the UEFA homegrown quota required for Champions League matches.
Welsh has completed a medical
According to a report from Sky Sports, Celtic central defender Stephen Welsh has completed a medical with KV Mechelen. It is believed that he spent last night finalising paperwork details before the move is officially confirmed this week.
Welsh has only made two appearances for the three-in-a-row Scottish champions this season. The 24 year-old academy graduate’s first start came in Celtic’s Premier Sports League Cup quarter-final encounter with Scottish Championship league leaders Falkirk in September.
Due to illnesses, Welsh was surprisingly named in the starting XI for the Hoops’ visit to Tannadice prior to Christmas.
Dane Murray’s return
The temporary move to Belgium seems the right one for all parties given Welsh’ lack of regular minutes. Subsequently, his departure sees Dane Murray return to the club following the 21 year-old making 20 appearances during a successful loan spell with Queens Park in the Championship in the first half of the season.
Speaking at his media conference yesterday afternoon, Brendan Rodgers addressed both Stephen Welsh departing the club, and Dane Murray’s recall.
Brendan explains
“We’ve brought Dane [Murray] back for that purpose [fulfilling homegrown quota for the Champions League], he’s a young player that I’ve thought highly of. I seen that he had a horrendous spell of injuries, so we sent him to Queens Park where Callum [Davidson] and his team at the club done brilliant work with him to ease him after a long period of out where he virtually trained every day, got really good coaching and was at a fantastic club there. The whole idea was to bring him back.”
A fabric of this club
Rodgers added, “Stephen is a player that’s pretty much been a fabric of this club for so many years. He’s one of those guys that helps create the culture, because he’s come through the system. But, there also comes a time where they need to look at their own career. So, there is a possibility that he’ll go out on loan – it’s not confirmed yet but for him to go out and for Dane to come back, it’s quite an easy transition really.”
Conor Spence
Introducing The Celtic Star App and our new ad-free Premium Service...
Go ad-free on The Celtic Star, get a FREE trial period to try it out. Also download our new App – available for both Apple and Android – and get the best Celtic content on your phone without fighting through pop-up ads and being forced to watch videos.
Our new PREMIUM service comes with a free seven-day trial so you can look before you book. If you are happy to continue the price will be just 99p per month or £9.99 for the year. For that you get an AD-FREE SITE plus access to our premium content, and you’ll also help us make The Celtic Star even better and less reliant on advertising revenues, allowing us to be more focused on publishing the best Celtic features on the internet.
Click HERE to access your FREE trial. We think you’ll like it! We’re Obsessed with Celtic and we think you are too! Join us hand in hand...
