Joey Dawson is the latest Celtic player linked with a loan move to Admira Wacker.
Since the striker posted on Instagram that he wouldn’t be back on the pitch until 2024 this move seems unlikely.
So far there has been no official comment from either club but Scott Burns of the Daily Record has been adamant all week that moves are underway.
Initially Tobi Oluwayemi and Matthew Anderson were reported to be over in Austria, on Wednesday Ben McPherson was added to the list.
Admira were relegated to the Austrian Second Division at the end of last season but would offer any young Celts a far higher level of competition that the Lowland League and the opportunity to grow up fast away from the home comforts of Lennoxtown and Barrowfield.
Beim 4. Spieler, der von #Celtic zur #Admira kommen soll, soll es sich um den englischen Stürmer Joey Dawson handeln. #inundaut #ligazwa
— Stephan Blumenschein (@sblumens) July 26, 2023
Translation: The 4th player to come from #Celtic to #Admira is said to be England striker Joey Dawson. #inundaut #ligazwa
On 29th March Football Scotland reported:
Celtic B scoring sensation Joey Dawson will miss the rest of 2023 after suffering a nightmare knee injury.
The English striker has been in lethal form for the club’s reserve team this season, netting 20 goals in 21 Lowland League appearances. But the teenager has been forced to go under the knife after sustaining a serious injury against Cumbernauld Colts on March 11.
Dawson successfully underwent surgery earlier this week and now faces at least nine months on the sidelines as he embarks on the long road to rehabilitation.
Posting a picture from his hospital bed, Dawson wrote on Instagram: “Operation was successful and now the recovery starts, back on the pitch for 2024.”
Dawson hasn’t been involved in any of the pre-season matches that Celtic’s B side have played and there hasn’t been any news from the player or Celtic about his rehab.
On Tuesday night Ben Quinn and Lewis Dobbie both scored twice with Bruno Davidson opening the scoring in the 5-1 victory over Caledonian Braves.
Dawson joined Celtic in the summer of 2021 to bolster the B team, signing at the same time as Bosun Lawal.
With a number of players forced to self isolate he made an unexpected first team appearance on 26 December 2021, replacing Kyogo Furuhashi in the first half of the 3-1 win away to St Johnstone.
The other substitutes that day were Ryan Mullen, Ben Doak, Adam Montgomery, Boli Bolingoli, Ismaila Soro and Owen Moffat. A few days later the signings of Reo Hatate, Daizen Maeda and Yosuke Ideguchi were announced.
The Austrian Second Division is something of an unknown quantity to the young Celts but having three or four familiar faces around should make settling in easier.
Oluwayemi, Anderson and McPherson are all at different stages in their careers but lacking the crucial experiences to make the step into serious first team contenders.
Former Spurs keeper Oluwayemi has been capped regularly by England upto u-19 level but a loan move to Cork City earlier this year only consisted of two matches back in February.
Anderson captained Celtic’s B team last season and signed a contract extension in March that keeps him at the club until 2025 while McPherson played twice in Japan but is behind Alistair Johnston and Tony Ralston for a first team place.
Other than sending Albian Ajeti on loan to Sturm Graz last season there are no real links between Celtic and Austria but the Admira Wacker partnership appears a useful step forward provided the loan players integrate with the contracted players at the club.
There will be high expectations on the loan players to contribute to a promotion winning campaign with the season starting on Friday night at home to Stripfing, the Second Division consists of 16 teams.
