Stephen Welsh expected to agree Celtic January move after development – expert
Alan Hutton has backed Stephen Welsh to leave Celtic on loan in January.
Speaking exclusively to Football Insider, the former Rangers defender insisted Welsh is too far down the pecking order to get regular game time at Parkhead.
According to the Daily Record (19 December), the 22-year-old is being tracked by Portuguese giants Porto as well as clubs in England, Italy and France ahead of the January window.
The defender’s Parkhead contract runs until 2025 but with the recent acquisition of Japanese defender Yuki Kobayashi Welsh could be forced out before then.
Hutton suggested a loan move for Welsh could be the best option.
“The hardest thing for him is that he has been in the first team and he has been playing in regular spells and then he is back out,” he told Football Insider.
“You just want to know that you are playing week in week out. But, when everybody is fit he is down the pecking order and that is just the way it is at this moment in time.
“He is of an age where he is still very young, he can go on loan and play games. He will have no problem coming back a better player and hopefully break back in to that first team.
“I think if that is the conversation between him and the manager then it’s probably the right one to go and get the game time and come back and then take it from there.
“It would not surprise me, everyone being fit, that he does go out on loan.“
In other news, McManus has backed Celtic to complete striker signing as fans start turning on Kyogo Furuhashi.