As Celtic suffer another injury blow with Daizen Maeda ruled out for up to six weeks, another opportunity arises for someone to come in and impress Brendan Rodgers.
The Japanese winger injured himself on Tuesday night after his red challenge caused him to strain his medial knee ligaments.
That now leaves Celtic manager, Brendan Rodgers, with a selection dilemma for today’s visitors, Aberdeen, in the Scottish Premiership.
Celtic’s squad depth means that Rodgers can look to bring in the likes of Hyunjun Yang or James Forrest to come in and do a job. But I believe this could be the perfect time to bring in Celtic B team youngster, Rocco Vata.
The youngster is currently on fire not only for Celtic but also for the Republic of Ireland u21s. The ‘fantastic‘ 18-year-old is scoring goals for fun in the Lowland League and has also been impressing whilst on international duty.
Described as the ‘star of the show‘ when he scored two goals for the Republic u21s on his debut, Vata took his goalscoring to a new level with his country this season.
The Celtic winger has also been attracting the attention of several clubs across Europe as his contract situation at the club rumbles on.
This season, Vata has been in incredible form for the B team this season. 10 goals in 12 appearances complement the 11 goals he tucked away last season as his sparkling form continues with his development at the club.
Vata is certainly one of the best prospects to come out of Lennoxtown and now Rodgers could take this opportunity to show him that when the time comes, he can be a starter for Celtic.
And who knows, if he impresses he could do a Liam Scales and make himself an important first-team squad player and earn that elusive new contract.
In other news, Jamie McGrath says Aberdeen ‘might need to suffer’ against Celtic today
