![\"Norwich](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Liam-Manning-Brendan-Rodgers-1140x644.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credit: Imago)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sun 24 August 2025 14:30, UK <\/p>\n
Celtic and Norwich are battling it out to sign Irish teenage sensation Vinnie Leonard before the close of the transfer window.<\/p>\n
The Dundalk centre-back is regarded as one of the best young talents to come out of Ireland in recent years having made over 60 first-team appearances at the tender age of 17.<\/p>\n
A number of clubs across Europe have been tracking Leonard, but Celtic<\/a> and Norwich<\/a> are leading the hunt for the Republic of Ireland Under-17 international.<\/p>\n Leonard came through the academy at Dundalk and has featured in all but one of The Lillywhites\u2019 28 league games so far this campaign.<\/p>\n Dundalk are currently top of the Ireland Division One table by eight points, having only conceded 20 goals in 28 games.<\/p>\n Celtic have previously signed from the League of Ireland when they bought Liam Scales to Glasgow from Shamrock Rovers in 2021 and Johnny Kenny from Sligo Rovers in 2022.<\/p>\n Scales is now a first-team regular, showing the pathway is there for Leonard should the 17-year-old sign for the Hoops, whilst after loan spells at Queen\u2019s Park and Shamrock Rovers, Kenny has broken into the first team squad.<\/p>\n MORE FOOTBALL INSIDER STORIES<\/p>\n Celtic have a strong Irish connection and striker Adam Idah is another from the country to currently be in the first team squad.<\/p>\n Norwich have pathway for Irish players Liam Manning joined Norwich as their new manager over the summer and has been busy in the transfer market. <\/p>\n Norwich have signed 10 new players, mostly under the age of 25 as Manning looks to buy young players, who he could then sell on for a profit in future seasons. <\/p>\n Leonard would fit that description, and the Canaries too have a recent history of signing players from the Irish leagues.<\/p>\n Appearances30Goals2Assists2Leanord\u2019s 2024\/25 stats in all competitions.<\/p>\n Glenn McCourt and Emmanuel Adegboyega have both joined Norwich\u2019s development squads, a path which Leonard could follow if he decides to move to East Anglia. <\/p>\n Adegboyega has had loan spells at Walsall and Dundee United to aid his development, and provide the 21-year-old with much needed first team football.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Posts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credit: Imago) Sun 24 August 2025 14:30, UK Celtic and Norwich are battling it out to sign Irish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89737,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[10043,218,28056,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-89736","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-celtic","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-norwich","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89736\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Brendan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Brendan-Rodgers-1-1-1024x721.jpg\")
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers if fighting to sign Lenard. (Credit: Imago)Leonard could join Celtic\u2019s Irish contingent<\/p>\n![\"Wolves\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/rsz_gettyimages-1396119279-1024x703.jpg\")
Norwich manager Liam Manning. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n