Celtic’s Admira Wacker feed club experiment continues as top two go on loan | OneFootball

Celtic continue the partnership with Austrian ‘feeder club’ Admira Wacker, sending two players over on loan at the second tier side for a season long loan…

IMAGO / USA TODAY – Celtic v Chelsea Jul 27, 2024; South Bend, IN, USA. Celtic defender Matthew Anderson (34) during the match at Notre Dame Stadium. Celtic won 4-1. Photo Matt Cashore

This arrangement started last season an proved to be productive, giving players in that grey area between the Celtic B to the first team an opportunity to continue their development with the goal to make the breakthrough to the Celtic first team in due course.

Matthew Anderson and Ben Summers both fall into that category and yesterday the Austrian side confirmed that the two young Celts are heading to play for them this season, with Anderson going back for a second season after impressing last year.

UEFA Youth League, Group Stage , RB Leipzig U19 Celtic Glasgow U19 , Pictured f l Ben Summers 53, Celtic and Ohene Köhl Koehl 9, RB Leipzig

The Celtic FC B account wished both players the best of luck for the new season, tweeting:

Ben summers

Left back Matthew Anderson played for Admira Wacker last season on loan for Celtic and made an impression with one goal and six assists from 21 league appearances. He is now 20 years of age, so this season will be vital for him to push on and return to Celtic I the summer looking at a first team breakthrough.

Ben Summers made his first team debut for Celtic under Ange Postecoglou but mostly has had to settle for B team action and last season out on loan at Dunfermline Athletic  in the Championship where he made 20 appearances, scoring twice and assisting the same number of goals.

Admira Wacker Sporting director Peter Stoger was delighted to use his side’s partnership with Celtic to sign the talented pair from the Scottish champions.

Daniel Kelly of Celtic during the cinch Scottish Premiership match between Hearts and Celtic at Tynecastle on 3 March 2024. Photo IMAGO

Brendan Rodgers arrived back at Celtic at the start of last season with numerous project signing arriving at the club who had to be evaluated. That clearly pushed the Academy players to the side with only Daniel Kelly and Rocco Vata getting a sniff of first team action last season.

: Rocco Vata of Celtic celebrates after he scores his team’s fifth goal during the the Celtic v Buckie Thistle – Scottish Cup match at Celtic Park on January 21, 2024 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Ironically both players decided against renewing their contracts and instead headed to the English Championship to progress their careers at Millwall and Watford respectively.

Brendan Rodgers has re-shaped his squad and has talked about the need for a clear Celtic pathway from the Academy to the first team to be improved.  Yet while the Celtic first team gets stronger, with the likes of £11m record signing Arne Engels arriving, breaking into the Celtic first team on merit is likely to become an even tougher task.

Celtic v theRangers –  Arne Engels during the ScottishPremiership match at Celtic Park on Sunday September 1, 2024. Photo Steve Welsh

However the manager makes the choices and can use the five substitutes available to integrate players who reach the required level.  It’s a challenging balancing act for the Celtic manager who is looking at adding European progression to the already established domestic dominance in Scottish football.

Clearly Celtic have high hopes that both Anderson and Summers can make the breakthrough with for example, the left-back likely to get his chance as a first team player next season after Alex Valle returns to Barcelona.

Meanwhile Celtic deadline day signing Luke McCowan spoke to The Celtic Star and other fan media sites at Celtic Park this afternoon. Here’s everything that was said…

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