Academy stars get chance with Celtic

BRENDAN RODGERS is loving his time at Celtic and a big part of that is being able to develop players in a way he couldn’t in England. With stars like Kieran Tierney now first-team mainstays, Celtic are ahead of their English rivals for giving youngsters a chance. The real test is whether they are giving their youths experience in Europe and the stats say they are. Here Record Sport looks at the British clubs in the Champions League to discover who are giving their academy players game time. No Blues player involved in the Champions League this season has come through their youth ranks. Despite having the highly-rated Phil Foden, Tosin Adarabioyo and Braham Diaz as part of their first-team squad, none have been given an opportunity in Europe by Pep Guardiola.

Rodgers’s former club have only given one youth player a chance, Trent Alexander-Arnold, who has played three times in Europe so far this season at right-back.

Andreas Christensen is the one Stamford Bridge youth who has had game time, turning out in three matches.

Harry Kane is the star man while Harry Winks has forced way into the starting line-up. Spurs’ third kid to have featured is Anthony Georgiou.

Only behind Celtic due to appearances and minutes played – with Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba and Scott McTominay featuring.

With 10 outings between them, Kieran Tierney, James Forrest, Callum McGregor and Anthony Ralston have been afforded chances.