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By GARY KEOWN AND PAUL FORSYTH Published: 21: 00 AEST, 12 June 2025 | Updated: 21: 00 AEST, 12 June 2025 View comments Callum Osmand laid it out there six months ago that his New Year resolution for 2025 was to gatecrash the world of senior men’s football — and that should let everyone know that he’s not interested in just making up the numbers at Celtic. The 19-year-old striker’s contract at Fulham is about to expire and the Scottish champions look to be at the head of the queue for his services. Celtic would have to pay a compensation fee for Osmand should personal terms be agreed and everything suggests manager Brendan Rodgers will look to have him involved with the first-team. Back in his first spell in charge, the Bhoys boss brought a certain Moussa Dembele north from Craven Cottage when he was 19 years of age and saw the Frenchman turn into a scoring sensation who was eventually traded to Lyon for just short of £20million. Unlike Dembele, Osmand failed to make it into the first-team at Fulham, but he was clear at the turn of the year that he felt he had to make this year his year to break through the glass ceiling and take his impressive scoring rate at age-group football into the senior game. And that is surely why the highly-rated forward, who represents Wales at international level, has taken the decision to leave West London and strike out elsewhere. Callum Osmand has been something of a goal machine for Fulham at youth team level Moussa Dembele became a huge hit at Celtic after moving from Fulham in a similar fashion Brendan Rodgers will be delighted if his cut-price signing can impress in pre-season ‘I think my main goal for the new year would be to get some exposure to men’s football, ’ said Osmand, who relocated from Jersey at the age of 13 to join Fulham, in an interview with the Jersey Evening Post. ‘Obviously, that opportunity can come in many different forms. But it’s about making the next step, pushing on, and getting myself involved in men’s football. ’ Osmand signed his first professional contract at Craven Cottage in the summer of 2023 and delivered 10 goals and four assists for the Under-21 side last season in English Premier League 2. In 73 games for Fulham’s Under-18 and Under-21 teams, he netted a grand total of 43 times. He scored a hat-trick when Fulham Under-21s trounced Spurs 4-0 in the Premier League Cup final and was nominated for Premier League 2’s Player of the Year award. Fulham boss Marco Silva had him training with the first-team squad Marco Silva is a big admirer of Welshman Osmand and will be sorry to see him move on ‘He is much more mobile [than a traditional centre forward], ’ said Silva. ‘He needs more senior football in his legs to see how he can adapt, perform. ‘He’s got the profile that I like. When he has a chance, he can punish the opposition. I can see the talent, in a position that is very difficult to play in the Premier League. Probably, if you play another striker by his side, you will take the best from him. ’ As if there wasn’t enough debate about whether Lennon Miller might join Celtic over the summer, along he comes with a hugely impressive performance on his first start for Scotland. The teenage midfielder was already certain to be a target for clubs across Europe thanks to his award-winning displays for Motherwell last season. But if there was any doubt as to the value of his potential — and clubs in France and Italy have reportedly been quoted as much as £7million — there isn’t any longer. Lennon Miller made an eye-catching debut for Scots in the 4-0 win over Liechtenstein Miller showed on the international stage what everyone who has watched him these last couple of years knew already: he is a precocious talent, destined for great things. Sure, it was only Liechtenstein, but Miller is just 18 and he contributed to Scotland’s 4-0 victory with a supreme show of confidence, maturity and majestic passing. No sooner had the game finished in Vaduz than social media was awash with Celtic supporters insisting that their club should pull out all the stops to buy him. Even their former captain, Scott Brown, chipped in during his shift as a pundit for BBC Scotland, who broadcast live coverage of the friendly international. Motherwell's teenage midfielder clearly has a bright future ahead of him in the game ‘You think, I can go to a Celtic and Rangers and I can break through there, ’ said Brown, whose transfer from Hibs in 2007 cost Celtic £4. 4m. ‘The pay slip is probably about 10 times bigger as well. ‘What are the chances of you breaking through at a Rangers and Celtic? It’s really, really hard. You’ve got to be really special; Lennon is really special. You can see it with his quality going forward, his calmness on the ball, but also, nothing fazes him. ‘He’s talking in front of the press, he’s happy as Larry. He probably goes home and plays the Play Station. ‘He is really chilled, he’s not a kind of big-time player. ’ Lennon Miller strides off after a job well done for Scotland at Rheinpark Stadion in Vaduz The question is not whether Miller would be an asset to Celtic. It’s whether the club, used to finding value in other markets, would be prepared to push the boat out for someone from the Premiership. And whether the player himself might rather go abroad and do for his career what Scott Mc Tominay, Billy Gilmour and Lewis Ferguson have done for theirs. As his suitors circle, Miller holds all the cards. Who said that pre-season training was no fun? With Celtic's schedule for July almost finalised,   there is plenty to grab supporters at what can be an awkward time of year. The confirmation of two mores games means that Brendan Rodgers' side will play in four different countries ahead of their Premiership opener on August 2. Eddie Howe will be taking his Newcastle United side to Parkhead on July 19 The club's warm-up schedule starts at the end of their first week back in training with a game against Queen's Park at the City Stadium on Friday, July  4. Four days later, they will be in Ireland to play Cork City. The inaugural Cork Super Cup is hoping to attract a capacity crowd to the Super Valu Pairc Ui Chaoimh stadium, a Gaelic games venue in Ballintemple. Following that, Celtic will fly out to Portugal for an eight-day training camp that will culminate in that match against Sporting at the Estádio do Algarve on Wednesday July 16. Three days later, they will be back home for the visit of Newcastle United, which brings Eddie Howe to the east end of Glasgow, four years after he turned down the chance to be Celtic’s manager. Then Celtic are off to Italy for the Como Cup, a tournament in which Como 1907, Dutch giants Ajax and Al-Ahli, of the Saudi Pro League, will also participate. Cesc Fabregas is in charge of the Como 1907 side who will welcome Celtic to Italy There, Celtic are pencilled in for two matches,   the first of which will be against Ajax,   at the picturesque lakeside venue, Stadio Sinigaglia, from 23-27 July. With tournament organisers promising ‘four clubs, one lake, one unforgettable week’, let’s just say pre-season training isn’t the living hell many would have us believe. Martin O’Neill used his latest visit back to Glasgow to make it clear to Brendan Rodgers that keeping Celtic at the top level of European football and battling it out with the cream of the continent is what being a Celtic boss is really all about. The 73-year-old Northern Irishman was the centre of attention at an official club event staged at the SEC Armadillo on Sunday to mark 25 years since he took the reigns at Parkhead and wrestled the power in Scottish football back from Rangers. In addition to domestic glories, though, O’Neill masterminded some stunning Champions League wins and took Celtic to the 2003 UEFA Cup final in Seville, where they suffered a heartbreaking extra-time loss to Jose Mourinho’s Porto. Martin O'Neill walks past the UEFA Cup trophy after defeat to Porto in the 2003 final in Seville O’Neill was thrilled to see his old side emerge from the group stage of last term’s Champions League after a decade of failure at that level and push Bayern Munich all the way in a play-off for a place in the last 16. And he made it clear when speaking after his special evening in Glasgow that the legacy built by Jock Stein and his 1967 European Cup-winning side has made it imperative that every Celtic head coach from now until time ends must place success in UEFA competition high on their list of priorities. ‘Celtic descended upon Seville with 75, 000 fans, ’ reflected O’Neill, in an interview with Celtic TV. ‘No one else, no other team, in European football could do that. ‘Absolutely not. I don’t care. Barcelona, Real Madrid, they couldn’t do this. Celtic had that. ‘There is a reawakening of European football this particular season, which is great, and it is something that any manager of Celtic should be aspiring to because of the greatness of the 1967 side and the great, great manager that was there. ‘Those are the things I wanted to bring to the football club. You can fail, but that’s what it is. This club is founded on big European nights because of what Jock Stein did and now, thankfully, they are coming back. ’ O'Neill believes that no club in Europe can match Celtic for the passion of their supporters O’Neill was hugely heartened, though, by Celtic’s ability to bounce back from a 7-1 Champions League thrashing from Borussia Dortmund and escape the group stage — and reckons that will only sharpen the hunger of Rodgers and his players to go a step further next time round. ‘I think we all thought the format would suit teams like Celtic, ’ said O’Neill. ‘I just think it is terrific. Returning from the debacle against Dortmund to go to Atalanta and get a result there, Leipzig, and then, to crown it all, a brilliant performance in Munich against Bayern, of all teams. ‘I don’t think there is any resting on laurels here. I think the run in the Champions League has actually given an appetite to go, if it is all possible, to go even further. ’

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