Celtic have had academy talents poached before and Nottingham Forest could be next to raid
A pundit has been forced to address chatter that a Celtic talent could be heading for Nottingham Forest.
Scottish clubs have watched as English sides have swooped in for their emerging talents before they even hit the first team. In a post Brexit world, Celtic have been no different, Ben Doak the most famous example of late as he moved to Liverpool after a couple of runouts in the first team arena at Parkhead.
Next up on the what could have been trail is Dara Jikiemi, the teenager who has impressed for both club and country at youth level. It’s been claimed by transfer journalist Pete O’Rourke that Nottingham Forest are “advancing in talks to lure the talented teenager, who remains very highly-rated at Celtic, to the Premier League.”
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Former Scotland and Celtic forward Andy Walker was put on the spot over the rumour on Go Radio. He said it is of no surprise to see such moves happening and that it could be done for a cheap fee. Walker said: “I know you've seen it with Kieran Tierney, Callum McGregor, but there's been so many others whose path has been blocked.
“There's not really a lot of opportunity to play, Celtic buy a lot of players. For a young Scottish player to come through the set up at the reserves or the academy, you need to be absolutely exceptional. So I have no idea what any of these players get paid.
“They certainly won't be going for anything less. I'm sure it will be much healthier down south if they're so highly rated and you hear it all the time. Anytime you go down south, you always hear about scouts looking at the best potential players, the best prospects anywhere in Scotland, 14, 15, 16. They always keep their eye on them because they will be relatively cheap.”
Brendan Rodgers verdict on Celtic vs Falkirk
The Hoops won their Premier Sports Cup last 16 tie against Falkirk 4-1 on Friday to set up a quarter final against Partick Thistle at Firhill next month. Their next task is the first leg of their key Champions League play-off against Kairat Almaty at Parkhead.
Boss Brendan Rodgers told club media after the win against the Bairns: “I thought it was a very good performance. We started the game where we wanted to in that first five minutes. The tempo was really good, we were precise in our passing and scored some outstanding goals.
“To be fair to Scott Bain, he’s made some very good saves for them. Falkirk are a dangerous team if you let them play because they’ve got good flexibility and good technical players, but I think we dominated the game and, overall, I’m really pleased. Every game, the opening five minutes is very important for us, so that’s something we want to bring to the game on Wednesday. Being at home in the first leg, you want to bring an advantage away with you, so if we play like that and put in that performance then we can have a really good opportunity to take a lead away with us.”
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