The story of Celtic defender, Liam Scales, has been one that has really caught the imagination of the Celtic fans this season.
The Irish defender looked on the cusp of a Parkhead exit until an injury crisis forced Brendan Rodgers to utilise him in the early part of this season.
Scales has performed out of his skin and held his own against Rangers, Feyenoord and Lazio and because of that, he is now a full international defender after being capped twice by the Republic of Ireland in the international window.
And it’s a story that has impressed BBC pundit, Leeanne Crichton. The former Scotland Women’s international has spoken about her admiration of the Hoops defender and credited Scales for his hard work and determination after believing he would leave Celtic this summer.
Crichton said [The Go Radio Football Show], “He’s been super consistent. I think Brendan Rodgers said he’s the biggest surprise in his management career. Just the turnaround and the fact that he probably perhaps had a vision of what he would be like when he arrived at Celtic and he’s clearly gone beyond that and more.
“Also, the fact is he’s played along so many different players. He’s not actually had a consistent partnership. It’s not like you can look at the Starfelt and Carter-Vickers partnership and say either one has helped the other one drastically or not.
“He’s had to chop and change. He’s had to adapt within games but he’s been a constant this season and huge credit to him.
“Because there was a lot of pressure on him coming back to Celtic. I expected him to go on loan again.
“Even though he had played at the beginning of the season, I still thought it would be the one to go.
“And he’s proven a lot of people wrong and probably proven himself right because he clearly backs his own ability and he’s got that with his national team performance as well.”
Scales is likely to start against Hearts alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers this afternoon. His form for both club and country means that he is now a key player in Brendan Rodgers’ first team.
The Irishman deserves his place in the starting lineup and until such times as he doesn’t, Maik Nawrocki and Gustaf Lagerbielke will need to wait in the wings until their chance crops up.
The Hearts challenge today represents the first in what are three huge fixtures for Celtic this week. With Atletico Madrid heading to Parkhead on Wednesday and then a trip to Easter Road to face Hibernian beckoning, Celtic will need Scales to be at his brilliant best if they want to win all three matches and keep their lead at the top of the table intact and their European dream alive.
In other news, Brendan Rodgers must leave ‘incredible’ 25-year-old player on the bench against Hearts today (tbrfootball.com)