Celtic have a plethora of loanees out elsewhere vying to impress Brendan Rodgers before returning to Lennoxtown for pre-season.
In January, Hyeokkyu Kwon, Mikey Johnston and Marco Tilio were among the names farmed out to gain regular minutes in an alternative environment.
Later, they were joined by Alexandro Bernabei, who left Celtic to join Brazilian giants Internacional on a loan for the remainder of 2024.
Of the four mentioned, Republic of Ireland winger Johnston has become the most notable success story, registering seven goals and one assist in 13 appearances out at West Bromwich Albion [Transfermarkt].
Kwon has established himself as a regular contributor at the SMiSA Stadium; meanwhile, Tilio has enjoyed the chance to enter familiar surroundings at Melbourne City following an injury-ridden six months at Parkhead after joining last summer for £1.5 million.
The Australia international won the February Player of the Month award at AAMI Park, making an immediate impact upon returning to his homeland.
Due to his exploits, the 22-year-old has been named in the Socceroos’ Under-23 squad for their upcoming Asian Cup tournament in Qatar.
Doubling as qualifying for the Paris Olympics, Australia will book their place at the games should they land a top-three finish in the Gulf region. Fourth-place will take on Guinea in an intercontinental play-off shoot-out.
Marco Tilio suffers a fresh injury blow away from Celtic
Per The West Australian, Australia Under-23’s were nervously anticipating an update on Tilio’s fitness after he pulled out of Melbourne City’s 2-1 loss away to Melbourne Victory due to sustaining a ‘minor quad injury’ against Central Coast Mariners.
Now, it has emerged that Tilio has been ruled out of featuring at the Asian Cup after he took to social media platform Instagram to post the following statement.
In full, he said: “Gutted being an understatement. Another small set back ruling me out of the Asian Cup and some important upcoming games for City. I’ll be back soon.”
Tilio had only just recovered from a hamstring tendon problem, and his unfortunate run of fitness issues appears to be a continuation of his frustration at Celtic, where he made only two cameo appearances against Motherwell and Hibernian.
Hopefully, the Hurstville-born man can recover and hone his talent in the southern hemisphere before returning to Lennoxtown.