Former Celtic Academy starlet Daniel Kelly’s tough start to his Millwall career continues this season.
Young Kelly left Celtic in August of last year and has since made just ten appearances for the English Championship side.
Kelly made his Millwall debut in the Carabao Cup last season and has featured just nine times since making his Celtic exit.
This is probably understandable considering his age but as a new season dawns, the ex-Celtic kid has suffered from some injury issues at Millwall.
And last night, those injury problems returned as young Kelly was forced off in the Carabao Cup clash with Crystal Palace.
Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty ImagesMillwall boss Alex Neil reveals ex-Celtic kid Daniel Kelly’s injury status
Young Kelly was subbed off earlier this season as injury forced the 19-year-old to be withdrawn from the 1-0 League Cup win over Newport County in August after just 25 minutes.
The defensive midfielder had just recovered from an injury which had kept him out of Millwall’s pre-season preparations.
And last night against Crystal Palace, the youngster was taken off again after 23 minutes as Millwall boss Alex Neil explained.
Neil told Southwark News, “Max [Crocombe] has got a sore toe, I believe, and Dan’s got a tight hamstring. So I don’t know how long they normally take.”
Why Daniel Kelly left Celtic with Brendan Rodgers’ words ringing in his ears
Brendan Rodgers once admitted that Kelly was offered a contract that would have seen him being ‘brought into the Celtic first team‘.
However, despite that, the young midfielder still decided to leave and Rodgers’ words at the time were quite cutting.
The Celtic manager said, “Daniel, as a young player, again, has been offered a really, really good contract by the club. A contract that would see him come into the first-team squad and play and perform and develop because he has a lot of development to do.
“I’ve spoken with the agents and the player some months back to say, ‘listen, if we can’t tidy this up by the summer, then it’s very hard to be with the team in the pre-season’. It’s really as simple as that.
“I like Daniel but he has a lot of work to do and I feel that for him and the family, this is a great place for him to be able to do that. You know, you’ve got a manager who sees a talent there, who sees the physicality that he has, lots of things, and the areas he needs to brush up on. What a great club and place this is for him to be able to do that.
“If that’s not enough then that’s OK. It’s absolutely fine. You know, you’ll go somewhere else and maybe play but, listen, you never know. We’ve got until December/January time but it’s just disappointing at this stage that it hasn’t happened because he would have had a great opportunity this pre-season.
“As I said, I know the value both in terms of the players’ qualities and the contract offer, the offers that the club gave were very, very good for young players in terms of where they’re at, with the greatest respect. Like I said to the club, if they don’t accept, then it’s OK.”