Young keeper signs 5 year contract with Celtic

Today, Celtic announced that 18 year old goalkeeper Corey Shaw has signed a new five-year contract.

Five years.

For a teenage keeper who is still playing his football for the B team.

Here is how the club put it on X, as reported by the Scottish Sun:

“We are delighted to announce that Corey Shaw has signed a new deal with the club.”

“The goalkeeper has put pen to paper on an extension until the summer of 2031.”

“Congratulations, Corey.”

Good luck to the boy, and congratulations to him from me too.

But I can’t read a deal like that without asking what it means for the goalkeeping department.

Celtic clearly want to tie Shaw down for the long haul, and you can see why

Let’s start with the obvious.

You don’t hand an 18 year old a contract until the summer of 2031 unless you see him as part of the long term plan.

He’s been an ever-present for Celtic B this season, with nine appearances in the Lowland League West.

He has also played in the KDM Evolution Trophy and he’s capped by Scotland at Under-19 level.

So I understand why the club want him to stay.

The fact that they’ve moved to secure him this early tells you plenty about how highly he’s rated.

It also tells you something else.

If they’re tying him down for five years, you can bet they won’t be buying another keeper

This is the bit that interests me.

Clubs don’t usually lock down a young goalkeeper for five years and then go out and spend real money on a new one.

Not at Celtic, anyway.

Not under a board that has never met a transfer budget it didn’t want to shrink – and you know it.

Sam Johnstone is here on loan.

Once he heads back to his parent club, we are left with what we’ve got.

And what we’ve got is Viljami Sinisalo, Ross Doohan and now, in the long term plan at least, Corey Shaw.

Is it unreasonable to think that could be our goalkeeping line up heading into next season?

I don’t think it is.

Make no mistake, that’s a prospect that should worry every one of us, because it would be a SERIOUS gamble with our Champions League campaign.

Johnstone was brought in because the club knew it needed more than what was already in the building.

If we are going to be back to relying on the same names a year from now, then what exactly was the point?

There is a huge gulf between the Lowland League and the Scottish Premiership, and everybody knows it

Now, I’ll be fair to the lad.

Shaw has been impressing in the Lowland League, and I’ve no reason to doubt that he’s a talent.

Celtic B currently sit eighth in the table, with five wins, two draws and three defeats from ten games.

Hardly world-beating, but it’s a young side finding its feet – and a keeper in that environment is going to be busy.

Then again, I’d be lying if I said that tells me much about whether he’s ready for what comes next.

The gulf between the Lowland League and the Scottish Premiership is enormous.

It’s a different pace, a different level of strikers and a different level of pressure.

And that’s before you get to the Champions League, where one mistake from the man between the sticks can end up on every highlights reel in Europe.

A good season for the B team doesn’t prepare you for that.

Only time in the first team does, and that has to be earned a wee bit at a time.

Nobody is saying Shaw can’t get there.

I’m saying he isn’t there yet.

And a five-year contract doesn’t change that overnight.

Obviously the club think Shaw is one for the future

I’ll give the board this much.

Handing a deal like this to a youngster from the B team is not something we see very often, so it’s good to see the club backing one of its own.

It’s the sort of thing the support has been asking for years.

Develop them, show faith in them and give them a pathway.

Fine.

I’m all for it.

But backing a youngster and using him as cover for not spending are two very different things.

That’s where my doubts creep in.

We’ve seen this film before, haven’t we?

A position that needs attention gets a hopeful quote about a promising kid, a few warm words about the pathway and the pennies stay safely in the bank.

Because it’s cheaper to say ‘we believe in our young players’ than it is to go and sign a proven number one.

And with this board, cheaper tends to win.

Let’s hope this isn’t a way of avoiding another keeper

So here’s where I land.

Good for Corey Shaw, and I hope he goes on to prove everyone right.

I’d love to see him in the first team one day, and I’d love it even more if he made the jersey his own.

But that day isn’t tomorrow, and it isn’t next season either.

What we need next season is a goalkeeper who can be trusted from the first whistle.

What we have to hope is that Shaw’s new contract is about his future and not about the club dodging the cost of a keeper.

Because if it turns out to be the latter, we’ll all know exactly who to thank…

Won’t we?

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