Celtic are in a tough spot when it comes to nurturing youngsters through their academy ranks.
More often than not these days, the Hoops are helpless in their efforts to deliver a clear pathway from the lower age groups to the first-team squad.
That’s because the lure of the big Premier League clubs down south for these youngsters proves to be too attractive. As the saying goes, money talks.
Daniel Cummings was the latest Celtic kid to move to England as he made a £300k switch to West Ham United after impressing for Celtic B in the Lowland League and UEFA Youth League.
And now, the Bhoys are about to lose another young talent to a Premier League club’s academy.
Celtic’s Conall Glancy close to Tottenham transfer
It is being reported by former 67 Hail Hail writer and now freelance journalist Mark Hendry that Celtic kid Conall Glancy is set for a transfer to Tottenham Hotspur.
Via his Substack, Hendry states that a number of English clubs are after Glancy’s signature, but that Spurs are currently at the front of the queue to secure the player.
Very little is known publicly about Glancy, but it is clear Tottenham have been tracking the kid as he developed through the age groups at Lennoxtown.
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Glancy is now 16 and it’s within the age range of the late teens when Premier League sides usually come knocking on the door to pinch young Scottish talent for very little financially.
Glancy joins long list of young Celtic departures
As mentioned, Cummings is the most recent example of Premier League clubs pinching Celtic’s promising youngsters for pennies.
Ben Doak moved to Liverpool in 2022 from the Hoops for a small compensation fee, which hurts even more now given the potential he has in the game.
We’ve also seen Rocco Vata and Daniel Kelly move down to Watford and Millwall respectively, although both players were not keen to sign new contracts.
However, Vata and Kelly were handed limited first-team opportunities when they felt they should have been given more minutes by the likes of Ange Postecoglou and now Brendan Rodgers.
So while Celtic are blameless for deals such as the Glancy one, the club can do more to blood youth into the first-team earlier and give them a taste of what it’s like to represent the Hoops at Parkhead.