Opinion: Celtic contract signing hopefully bodes well for the future

Celtic used the club’s official Twitter account on Thursday to announce that a young player had agreed to sign his first professional contract with the club.

The Hoops revealed that Daniel Kelly has agreed to commit his future to Celtic.

What is interesting about the contract signing is that Football.Scotland reports that Arsenal were very keen on signing the 16-year-old, but the Hoops signed the player to a three-year-deal.

Hopefully Kelly goes on to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Kieran Tierney and Callum McGregor by making the breakthrough into the Celtic first-team and winning a host of trophies for the club.

More importantly though, hopefully this is a sign of things to come with regards to keeping young players at Celtic Park.

Kelly has yet to play in the Celtic first-team, but another 16-year-old at the club, Ben Doak, has achieved that this season. Unfortunately though, it seems that he won’t be at Celtic much longer, as The Athletic recently reported that the winger is set to join Liverpool at the end of the season.

Doak leaving would be following a pattern over the last few seasons, which seem some top Celtic prospects leaving the club, for example, Liam Morrison and Barry Hepburn both left the Hoops to join Bayern Munich.

Perhaps the deal to bring Kelly to the club will be the start of Celtic getting players who could be mainstays of the club for years to come tied down on contracts at Celtic Park.

In a way it is a tribute to the players that Celtic bring through that the likes of Bayern, Liverpool and Arsenal want to sign them, but that doesn’t do the Hoops any good in the long run.

It is obviously much better for the Hoops if the players can establish themselves at Celtic Park, and then either be