MILLWALL are set to sign Celtic midfield prospect Daniel Kelly in January.
Kelly, 18, was offered a new deal by the Scottish Premiership champions but he has decided to move south to join the Lions.
East Kibride’s Kelly scored on his senior league debut in February in Celtic’s 7-1 win against Dundee after he had come on at half-time. He made six appearances for Brendan Rodgers’ side last season.
Kelly, a left-footed box-to-box midfielder, wasn’t involved in Celtic’s pre-season after he turned down a deal.
“Daniel has been offered a really good contract by the club,” Rodgers said in July.
“It’s 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 spoke 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 pre-season’. It’s as simple as that.
“I like Daniel but he has a lot of work to do and I feel that for him and his family, this is a great place for him to be able to do that.
“You’ve got a manager who sees a talent there, who sees the physicality that he has 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 okay. It’s absolutely fine.
“You’ll go somewhere else and maybe play. But you never know. We’ve got until December but it’s just disappointing at this stage that it hasn’t happened because he would have had a great opportunity this pre-season.”
Kelly’s contract runs out on December 31.
