Defender Stephen Welsh became a mainstay for the Development and Reserve sides after moving up from the Under-17s in the summer of 2017.

“Every young kid who’s a Celtic fan, it’s their dream to play for Celtic. Only a few lucky ones get to do it, and it’s such a privilege for me to be living it.”

The defender steadily progressed through the ranks at the Celtic Academy and was building up his first-team experience in a season-long loan spell at Morton during the 2019/20 campaign before being recalled in January 2020.

Stephen then went on to make his first-team debut in a 4-1 win over Hamilton Accies in February 2020 as the Celts came from a goal behind and eventually took the lead late in the game with a flurry of goals to secure three points in a vital match towards securing nine-in-a-row.

Following a handfull of appearances over the course of three seasons, he really came to the fore as the midpoint of season 2020/21 approached and he played in 21 games over the course of the rest of the term.

Among those games, he also registered his first Celtic goal when he opened the scoring after only two minutes in a 2-1 win over Motherwell in February.

As a lifelong Celtic fan, the youngster admits he’s living the dream and said he’ll do everything he can, on and off the pitch, to keep himself in the manager’s plans.

COUNTRY BHOY
His consistent performances at club level have been rewarded with international recognition at various age levels for the Scotland national side.

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