Celtic have a deep squad at this point in time, even though it is unclear how many will have major roles to play in Brendan Rodgers’ plans. One particular area of interest remains the defence. It proved to be a weakness towards the end of last season after Cameron Carter-Vickers underwent surgery and was absent as a result.
Celtic leaked goals in the last few games of the league season and looked nowhere near their best. In pre-season, they let in six goals against Yokohama F. Marinos as well.
On the other hand, there have been some impressive defensive displays as well. The one against Wolves was an example of such. It took a controversial late penalty for the Premier League side to find the back of the net against Celtic, even though they were missing the likes of Carter-Vickers, Carl Starfelt, Alistair Johnstone and more.
One player who did perform well on the day is Liam Scales. The Irishman’s future is believed to be in doubt though. He spent the previous season out on loan at Aberdeen. And it is believed that the Premiership side want him back this season, possibly even on a permanent deal.
Rodgers confirms transfer talks over Celtic player
As reported by The Scottish Sun, Brendan Rodgers said about the situation of Scales:
"“Liam’s excellent and I really like him. He’s an intelligent boy.“He’s come over, obviously gone out to Aberdeen on loan and done really well.“He’ll be at an age where he’ll want to play.“I just think you need to have a strong squad. You have to make sure you have the depth there.“I would think Aberdeen are keen to have him back.“I’ve obviously had a couple of conversations with Barry.“But we’re in no rush, I’ll just assess it and see where it is. We’ll take it from there.”"
Thus, it looks like there have been talks over Scales already. For the time being, nothing seems to have been decided over the player’s future though. And he certainly looks good enough to have a role in the squad.
Especially when you consider that Stephen Welsh is expected to leave this summer and there are question marks over the suitability of Yuki Kobayashi to Scottish football. Scales is capable of playing both as a centre-back and a left-back and proved himself in the Premiership on loan at Aberdeen.