East Kilbride manager Mick Kennedy believes the club have landed Celtic's "next real rising star" after securing Liam Kennedy as part of their co-operation agreement with the Hoops. The 17-year-old, who is no relation to the Kilby boss, was name-checked by Celtic manager Martin O'Neill as a top prospect last month.
Liam joined on a co-op loan last week alongside Celtic goalkeeper Marcus Gill, taking the number of Hoops youngsters at K-Park to three following Rhys Dargie's switch last month. Kennedy says the League One outfit is very fortunate to have the 'first-team-bound' player in their ranks this season.
High praise for teenage talent
Speaking to Lanarkshire Live Sport, Kennedy said: "Liam is probably the next real rising star at Celtic. He is one I imagine will definitely be earmarked for the first team at some point." He added: "He is an outstanding talent at only 17 so I am delighted to have him on board."
O'Neill described Liam as a "really good footballer" last month. Kennedy expects to hand the teenager his debut in Saturday's clash at home to Peterhead, noting: "He didn't play on Saturday [in a 1-0 defeat to Hamilton Accies] because he has only watched training on the Thursday, so we didn't want to throw him in too early. But he will definitely get on against Peterhead and the plan is to integrate him into our team."
New arrivals bolster squad
Kennedy added: "He is more than capable of playing in League One comfortably, he is a top, top player. He is such a talented kid and we are very fortunate that we have got him, to be honest, so we are very grateful to Celtic trusting us with his development. Even within Celtic I believe he is the next one earmarked to come through their system."
Liam is one of four fresh faces at K-Park over the last week, alongside Gill, midfielder Euan East, and striker Callum McKenzie, who made their debuts in the weekend defeat to Hamilton Accies. On the new arrivals, Kennedy said: "We are delighted to get Marcus in. He is a top goalkeeper we have known from playing Celtic B over the years. Callum is someone we knew from his time at Broomhill."
Depth for difficult period
Kennedy explained: "We have been actively trying to get a centre forward in and we missed out on one or two due to finances and things like that, so we had to move on. We knew Callum was coming back from Australia so it is the perfect fit to bring him in."
On East, he said: "And Euan is someone we spoke to a lot over the summer. He had other options and it is just circumstances in the end that means we will have him until January. He plans to come in for a few months and hopefully find something better financially, but he will help us at a real difficult time in terms of injuries. All of these new players give the squad that bit of depth again."
