johnreid 
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Celtic midfielder Liam Shaw moving to Motherwell on loan for the rest of the season seems like a good move for all parties.
Shaw will hopefully get the chance to play first-team football on a regular basis, and Motherwell will get a player in their squad who will be eager to work hard to get regular football.
Interestingly, Motherwell manager Graham Alexander has disclosed that Celtic rate Shaw very highly and see the player as one for the future.
“Celtic obviously see him at some point getting in their first team and they value him quite highly. But they see an opportunity for him to compete and get in our first team” (Glasgow Times).
That is good news for Shaw that Celtic value the player so highly that they think he could eventually break into the first-team. But he will have to work hard to hold down a place in a Motherwell side that is currently fourth in the Premiership.
Celtic will be hoping that Shaw will follow the path set by two former Hoops players, Kristoffer Ajer and Ryan Christie.
Ajer and Christie were two players that struggled to get into the Celtic first-team, and as a result went on loan to teams in the Premiership, Kilmarnock and Aberdeen respectively.
The loan moves were the making of the duo, as they got regular first-team football, and returned to Celtic seemingly full of confidence. The pair then became mainstays in the Hoops team, won lots of trophies and earned moves to the English Premier League.
There is no guarantees that the move to Motherwell for the former Sheffield Wednesday talent will work out as well as Ajer and Christie’s loan moves did. But there is no harm in the player getting regular football at a high level.
It will be a test for Shaw to get into a Motherwell side that are performing well, but the Celtic hierarchy must believe that such a move will be good for the Englishman.
Hopefully in time the 20-year-old will turn out to have as successful a Celtic career as Ajer and Christie did. Even if he doesn’t, there is no harm in sending players out on loan to other teams in the Premiership, Celtic should probably consider doing it more often.
Ange Postecoglou will no doubt be watching very closely how Shaw performs at Motherwell. If he can impress whilst at Fir Park in the second-half of the season, it could bode well for the player’s future at Celtic Park.
