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Osaze Urhoghide has had a surprisingly prominent role to play in Celtic’s opening pre-season games, being the only player who has completed both 90 minutes against Wiener Viktoria and Rapid Vienna, reports Megasportsarena.com.
Urhoghide has been primarily used as a right-back over both games but also slotted in as a centre-back when Christopher Jullien went off against Wednesday’s opponents.
And Ange Postecoglou has now praised him for stepping up when needed to get the team through these early tests, describing the 22-year-old as a ‘warrior’.
Postecoglou told The Glasgow Times: “Credit to Osaze, he played 90 minutes on Wednesday and 90 minutes today. The one thing about him is he is a warrior. He works hard. We had him pencilled in for 90 minutes today, and he got through it.
“It was a great game. Sometimes with these friendly games, you worry whether the intensity might not be quite there. At times, it was like a real contest, which was brilliant. Credit to Rapid and our boys, they made it into a real, competitive game with the crowd out there as well. I thought it was a real worthwhile exercise.”
It’s yet to be determined whether Postecoglou deems Urhoghide of the quality to be part of the squad heading into the important stages of the season.
He was sent out on loan in January for a reason – clearly he wanted to play football and that might not come readily at the Bhoys, especially at right-back.
Nonetheless, the Celtic manager is at least in a good place to make an informed decision on him after this shift in Austria.
The former Sheffield Wednesday man has been in the spotlight and given opportunities, which is all anyone can ask.
I have a sneaking suspicion he’ll be sent out on another loan, but there’s plenty of time left in the summer for him to make a positive impression.
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