Celtic’s Champions League campaign will take prime billing next week, but the club’s under-20 squad will enjoy their own exposure to European football.
Chris McCart, Celtic’s head of youth development, will oversee those in the underbelly of the club go head to head against their contemporaries at PSG, Anderlecht and Bayern Munich, an experience that seems commensurate in preparing them to make the transition to first-team football.
Kieran Tierney is the obvious posterboy for Celtic’s academy with the Scotland internationalist impressing throughout the two full seasons he has spent in the Parkhead first-team, however there have been glimpses too of those preparing to follow; Anthony Ralston and Calvin Miller look next to chap on the door of the senior side.
And whatever comes next for those in the development squad, McCart is confident that whether they make it at Celtic or elsewhere, they are being schooled in the demands of making a professional career in the game.
“In a 15-year period Celtic has produced 18 of our own Champions League players from the academy and our main purpose is to develop players who can perform at this level,” explained McCart.
“During that same time frame, 54 academy graduates made their competitive debuts for Celtic and 168 of them went on to have professional careers elsewhere.”
It was the late Tommy Burns who had the vision of combining education with development and McCart believes that the academy is the lasting legacy of the former Celtic player and manager.
"There is still a very strong influence of Tommy at the club,” said McCart. "Brendan [Rodgers] speaks very highly of him and he had a strong influence on him when they were at Reading.
And McCart believes that exposure to other European teams and how they play can only enhance the learning experience from those pushing to make it at Celtic.
“That exposes us to different types of football,” he said. “We’re playing against the very best and they’ll want to prove themselves. Obviously, we also want to win but it’s not always about that.
“The experience that Anthony Ralston, Calvin Miller and Michael Johnson got last year helped them get into the first team this season and acquit themselves very well.
“We’ve come up against Alexis Sanchez in the past and clubs take these Under-19 games very seriously. UEFA regard them as a major part in the development of young players, bridging the gap between league football and the elite level.”
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