Last week’s Celtic coverage from Portugal was a little haphazard with no mention of the team lines for the matches against Portimonense, the first match, a 0-0 draw on Wednesday wasn’t mentioned by the club in any way.
From the brief video clips supporters could scan around to see who was involved in the training sessions.
At this time of year there are always some younger faces around, selected by the manager to see how they cope with intense first team training and to observe how the more experienced players react to the largely unknown talents.
Ben Summers, Rocco Vata and Bosun Lawal all made substitute appearances for the first team last season but behind them were a few fairly new names to the first team scene.
Josh Dede, Ben McPherson, Daniel Kelly, Michael Frame, Mackenzie Carse and Bruno Davidson were all spotted with Kelly selected for a brief Celtic TV interview even if it gave little away.
🗣️ “Grateful to get the opportunity.”
Young Celt, Daniel Kelly, gives his thoughts on his first pre-season trip with the first-team on our warm weather training camp!
To watch in FULL subscribe now to #CelticTV ⤵️https://t.co/OEkbxxC5SE@CelticFC | #COYBIG🍀 pic.twitter.com/jq87Oimdh2
— Celtic TV (@CelticTV) July 11, 2023
Davidson, Carse and Frame returned from Portugal a day early to play in the B team friendly at Alloa on Saturday.
Kelly and McPherson survived the cut, played in the second friendly against Portimonense and are in Japan preparing for today’s match against Yokohama F Marinos.
One aspect about Kelly and McPherson is that they are both physically mature, there are no concerns about protecting them from the rough and tumble.
Last season McPherson played in five of the six UEFA Youth League matches with Kelly starting all six. Results weren’t fabulous but every player involved discovered the levels needed to make progress. The Lowland League provided regular matches against older opponents but facing the elite young players at Real Madrid, RB Leipzig and Shakhtar Donetsk is another experience entirely.
As a central midfielder Kelly, who won’t be 18 until October, faces an uphill battle to get in and around the first team squad but there is clearly something in his game that Brendan Rodgers has picked up on and is looking to develop.
Spending a couple of weeks in the company of Callum McGregor and Reo Hatate is a big step up but in the matches against Yokohama F Marinos and Gamba Osaki he should get the chance to play alongside those name rather than just train in their company.
View this post on Instagram
McPherson has a genuine opportunity to progress his Celtic career in the next fortnight with Tony Ralston joining Alistair Johnston in the treatment room.
There is no other natural right-back with the squad which should ensure significant game time at least in the two matches against J-League opponents. Hopefully Daizen Maeda’s successor on the left wing of the Yokohama attack isn’t as industrious as the man he has replaced.
In June, at the age of 19, he was called up into the Scotland u-21 squad for end of season matches against Norway which ensured that his fitness levels barely dipped.
The team lines for today’s match should be out just before 10am with a few gaps in the treble winning squad from last season.
Having made it to Japan the next target for the two new bhoys is to impress enough to stay in the squad to play Wolves in Dublin, after that there is the prospect of a home debut against Athletic Bilbao.
Before the Algarve trip Kelly and McPherson were largely unknown but over the next couple of days they could become unexpected additions to Rodgers’ first team squad.
