Pressley reckons the Hoops have landed something special in a player he worked with closely at Brentford
Benjamin Arthur after signing for Celtic(Image: SNS Group)
Steven Pressley has worked closely with Benjamin Arthur and believes Celtic have got a Virgil van Dijk clone.
The young 6ft 4in Brentford centre-back joined the Hoops on loan from Brentford on deadline day. He could now make his Celtic debut against his Dundee side in tomorrow evening’s Scottish Cup clash.
Pressley was a development coach with the Bees up to the summer and the 20-year-old was one of their top young talents that he worked closely with.
He thinks he has similar attributes to the Liverpool and former Hoops star Van Dijk. The Dundee head coach said: “Benjy Arthur is a player I worked really closely with in my time at Brentford. I really like him and rate him as a player.
“I don’t want to put much pressure on him, but he does remind me of a young Virgil van Dijk. He is a huge unit but also very mobile.
“He is right sided. Benjy is very calm and clean in his defending. He is very assured, quick, strong and powerful. He has got so many good attributes that all the top modern day defenders require.”
Pressley also gave Celtic the inside track before they signed Arthur. His former Scotland and Celtic teammate and now first-team coach Shaun Maloney made the call.
“I spoke to Shaun Maloney about him the other day,” the former Coventry boss confirmed.
(Image: SNS Group)
“I told him how highly I rated him and he is a player with huge potential.
“They, in my opinion, have made a good acquisition. Of course, it is his first loan. This will be a new experience for the player but he is a player who has huge potential.”
It was a late switch on deadline that will see Arthur come in to compete with Auston Trusty, Liam Scales and Dane Murray, with Cameron Carter-Vickers expected to be out for the season. Arthur’s arrival allowed Stephen Welsh to return to Motherwell on-loan for the second half of the season.
Pressley knows that the new boy had a number of options including top English Championship sides before he decided on Glasgow.
“There was a lot of interest in Benjy,” Pressley insisted. “I know there were several English Championship clubs who were keen on him and also Celtic game in, so he had a lot of options. I am confident he can do well at Celtic given the opportunity.”
His former coach believes a move to Celtic will be massive for him and a money you can’t buy experience.
Pressley added: “Brentford thought this would be a terrific loan for him because one of the biggest challenges is, can you handle the pressures of playing for Celtic or Rangers.
“I think if you can handle that then you will be able to handle most clubs.
“In terms of being able to grow and be tested then this will be a good step for him.”
Brentford signed Arthur from Peterborough in a seven figure deal three years ago. Pressley knows they have high hopes for him and see him as a future first-team player who can go on and star in the English Premier League.
This loan is seen as the next step in that particular journey. Arthur will hope he can make a similar impact as to the one his Bees’ teammate Tony Yogane has made at Dundee, as well as Ash Hay who has made the same move on a permanent basis.
“I know Brentford rate him highly,” the former Hearts captain stated. “They rate him massively and have high hopes.
“Brentford purchased Benjy from Peterborough. He came into the Brentford B team where I worked closely with him.
“It was my job to transition players from there to the first-team. Benjy was one of those players who they see on a pathway to the first-team.
“I worked very closely with him for a couple of years and I can’t wait to see his further development and how he kicks on.
“I am pleased to see him come up here. He is close to Tony Yogane and Ash Hay and he will have seen how they have done in Scotland and he will be coming up to Celtic looking to make a similar impact.”
Pressley revamped Dundee’s training week after Wednesday’s Dens Park clash went off because of a waterlogged pitch.
It means that Dundee have been able to focus on their Scottish Cup clash with Celtic. He knows about Arthur but will have to do his homework on their other new signings, Junior Adamu and Joel Mvuka. The Taysiders will be desperate to cause an upset and try and end their long Scottish Cup wait. They last won it back in 2010 but for Pressley it is all about trying to get past Martin O’Neill’s Celtic.
“We will do our work on the entire Celtic team, including their deadline day signings,” he stated. “In truth, until the Motherwell game was postponed, we hadn’t looked beyond that. Our work on Celtic for the cup tie on Saturday.”