Celtic’s young striker Jack Aitchison has praised the impact of new Celtic technical coach Kolo Toure.
Toure played for just one year at Parkhead but won the Premier League with both Manchester City and Arsenal, and Aitchison has claimed that his experience is rubbing off on Celtic’s youngsters.
“I speak to a lot of the first-team players,” Aitchison said in the Scottish Sun, “but Kolo is probably the biggest help.”
“He trained with Thierry Henry so he’s been trying to tell me what he used to do and the movements he’d make.
“He was unbelievable. I wouldn’t mind following in his footsteps with the way he played and the way he scored goals.
“I’ve spoken to him a couple of times about Arsenal, the Invincibles and players like Robert Pires.
“He told me they were all brilliant trainers who didn’t just do it in games. Training is a big part of it too.
“You have to show the manager what you have got if you want to have a chance to play games for the first team.”
Aitchison has broken through to the Celtic first team, making three cameo appearances and scoring in the 7-0 win against Motherwell back in May 2016.
However, he has yet to make a first-team appearance this season and will be hoping that Toure’s influence can help get him into Brendan Rodgers’ long-term plans.
OPINION
Kolo Toure has a lot to offer Celtic and his experience at the highest level will hopefully prove invaluable to the talented youngsters currently vying to be a part of the future with the Scottish champions. For Aitchison, an Arsenal fan, it’s obviously inspiring to get advice from someone who played with the stars the youngster grew up admiring. Aitchison scored on his debut for Celtic when he was just 16 but hasn’t been trusted in the senior team set-up yet this season. He obviously has a lot to offer and Toure could be the man that helps him make the step up. Toure’s right that the best players don’t just do it in the games and Aitchison is going to have to impress on the training pitch if he wants a shot on the big stage.