It might have been Tony Watt that grabbed the headlines with his two-goal haul on his full debut at the weekend, but equally pleasing for Neil Lennon will have been the performance of another youngster making his first Celtic start: Filip Twardzik.
Following injuries to Joe Ledley, Beram Kayal and Scott Brown, and the sale of Ki Sung-Yeung to Swansea, the 19-year-old Czech midfielder was thrust into the Celtic starting XI, despite being short of match fitness himself following a spell on the sidelines.
Inverness has long been a notoriously difficult place for Celtic to get a result and is hardly the ideal environment for a young, ball-playing central midfielder to get his first 90 minutes with the senior team; however, Twardzik acquitted himself excellently and delivered a confident performance.
The teenager, who although still not the biggest physically, appears to have toughened up and demonstrated his ball-winning capabilities early on – showing that responsibility for the grittier side of midfield play would not fall squarely on Victor Wanyama’s shoulders, and also that he is aware that simply having good passing ability is not enough to survive as an SPL midfielder.
A keen eye for a pass he certainly does possess, demonstrated most memorably by his assist with the outside of his foot for Tony Watt’s first goal. Twardzik reads the game well and has a good awareness on the pitch. His movement was intelligent and he also displayed the stamina and energy to burst forward on occasion as well.
In truth, Twardzik possesses many of the attributes that Ki does, and that is a crucial point. It had been common consensus for most of the summer that Celtic would look to sell one of their more valuable assets in order to balance the books and fund new arrivals, and, with the midfield being well stocked, Ki was a suitable selling option.
Although Celtic still have Brown, Wanyama, Kayal and Ledley – all of whom were favoured to Ki last season – to occupy the central midfield berths, the loss of a player who scored 7 goals in 41 appearances in the 2011/12 campaign will still be felt to some extent.
The emergence of Twardzik, ready for first team action, will soften that blow and should ensure that, in depth and quality, central midfield remains Celtic’s strongest area, without the need to dip into funds that would be better spent elsewhere.
Twardzik’s stylistic similarity to Ki should prove useful too as both are a different type of player to Celtic’s other central midfielders. The young Czech could provide Lennon with a readymade replacement for the Korean in that the option to play a specialist passer remains, although he is still raw and cannot be expected to contribute – yet – to the extent that Ki did in terms of minutes on the pitch.
In the cold financial climate that is the SPL, the capacity to produce home-grown players of real quality is invaluable. If players like Twardzik and Watt can compete for places in the first team or even, at this stage, simply fill in when needed, it will save Celtic money in the short term and – if the youngsters realise their potential – could bring major windfalls in the longer term, as when Aiden McGeady was sold for £9.5m.
Twardzik, who joined Celtic three-and-a-half years ago with his twin brother Patrik, will undoubtedly save Neil Lennon a foray into the market for midfield cover, and if he fulfils the promise he has shown at youth level, he could become a priceless addition to the first team squad.
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Completely agreed. He was excellent at Inverness away and he obviously has great vision and ability. Like Ki, as you point out and looks like the Celtic youth academy didn’t stop at McGeady.