LIAM SCALES’ Celtic career will be settled in the summer.
The Republic of Ireland utility defender has been on loan at Aberdeen for the season after joining the Hoops from Shamrock Rovers for £600,000 in August 2021.
Scales scored two goals in eight starts in his debut campaign, but Ange Postecoglou allowed him to move to Pittodrie to get game-time after spending £3.75million on Alexandro Bernabei from Argentina top-flight club Lanus to put pressure on Greg Taylor for the left-back position.
RED ALERT…Liam Scales is all smiles after his season-long loan move to Aberdeen in the summer.
At the same time, he also brought in Moritz Jenz, from Ligue 1 side Lorient on a temporary transfer, to strengthen the central defence alongside Cameron Carter-Vickers, Carl Starfelt and Stephen Welsh.
Scales’ opportunities in the top side would have been limited and a switch to the Dons was a reasonable alternative to give the player the chance to further his career in the Premiership.
Now the north-east club, under the new management of ex-Celt Barry Robson, will have to sweat on a decision from the Hoops gaffer before they know if they can keep the 24-year-old Dublin-born performer.
Postecoglou is focused on the three remaining league matches against St Mirren at home on Saturday, Hibs at Easter Road on Wednesday and Flag Day against the Dons at Parkhead three days later when, of course, Scales will not be allowed to play against his parent club.
And the the Hoops gaffer will turn his attention to the Scottish Cup Final against Inverness Caley Thistle at Hampden on Saturday June 3 with a treble on the line.
PICK IT OUT…Liam Scales celebrates a goal in Celtic’s 3-0 win over Dundee United at Tannadice on December 5 2021. The beaten keeper is Benji Siegrist, now at Parkhead.
Referring to Scales and the other Parkhead players currently out on loan, Postecoglou insisted: “We’ll wait until the summer. It’s good to see Liam doing so well at Aberdeen.
“When you put guys out on loan you hope they get good experience and make an impact. Liam has done that and I know Barry Robson and the club have been really happy with him.
“But those decisions will be made at the end of the year. We’ll see what’s best for him and the club. The guys will all need some sort of clarity moving forward.
“We will look at them all on an individual basis. We’ll get to that when the time is right.”
Looking at the transfer market on the whole, Postecoglou, speaking to the Daily Record, added: “We’ve already started work. We are not close to signing anyone but it’s about identifying targets.
“It’s a bit tricky at this point before the summer window because you are not really sure about potential departures, as well.
“We’re ready to go and are doing plenty of work in the background. I can assure you anyone mentioned at the moment is definitely not on our radar because we are not at that stage yet.”
