Daniel Kelly will become the latest youth talent to leave Celtic for another team before a sustained first-team breakthrough.
It was confirmed earlier this week that Kelly has signed a pre-contract with Millwall in the English Championship and will officially join up with them in January.
There’s still a chance that the two clubs come to an agreement before the end of August to hasten his move south, but it’s reported that valuations and add-ons are too far apart at this stage.
It’s been known for a while that Kelly had one foot out of the exit door after Brendan Rodgers revealed he was no longer part of his first-team plans after a contract was rejected.
But what was that contract, and what kind of future did Celtic lay out for the young midfielder?Celtic’s offer to Daniel Kelly
The Daily Record reports that Celtic tabled a salary of £5,000-a-week for the 18-year-old which is a significant offer for a new Academy graduate.
It’s said that the Bhoys were also planning to encourage him to pursue a development loan for the season so he could get regular week-to-week football.
That all ties in with Rodgers’ comments last month when he said: “Daniel, as a young player, again, has been offered a really, really good contract by the club. A contract that would see him come into the first-team squad and play and perform and develop because he has a lot of development to do.”
Celtic need to nail the player pathway
It’s been a long time since a youngster came through Lennoxtown to become a big hit in the Celtic starting eleven.
We’ve seen a variety of young talents leave for clubs as varied as Bayern Munich, Manchester City, Liverpool and Watford in recent seasons.
Celtic’s offer to Kelly may have been more than fair but ultimately the Bhoys have missed out again and nailing that pathway from the U18s through to the B team into the senior set-up is key.
It’s hard to pinpoint what the solution is but if Rodgers is truly at the club for the long-term this time then it’d be great to see his stated plans for more youth integration come to fruition. Losing Rocco Vata and Daniel Kelly this summer was not part of those plans.
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