O’Neill has a “young Virgil van Dijk” who could end Scales’ Celtic career

Celtic needed a last-gasp equaliser from new signing Junior Adamu to prevent themselves from being knocked out of the SFA Cup at the last 16 stage last weekend.

Dundee looked set for a place in the last eight after a screamer from Ethan Hamilton in the second half, only for the Freiburg loanee to brilliantly flick the ball into the back of the net.

Sebastian Tounekti then scored the winner just seconds into extra time and the Hoops were able to see out the game for a 2-1 win, booking a meeting with Rangers in the quarter-finals.

Whilst Hamilton’s goal for Dundee was a special strike, Liam Scales’ defending for the initial run from Cameron Congreve and when faced up with Hamilton was questionable.

The Ireland international failed to put a challenge in on Congreve before allowing the former Manchester United midfielder all the space he needed to shift the ball onto his left foot to take a relatively unchallenged shot from distance.

Why Celtic may need to drop Liam Scales

Martin O’Neill may have to drop the left-footed defender from the side in the coming weeks because of his recent performances for the Scottish Premiership giants.

The former Aberdeen loanee’s performances in the Premiership, in particular, have declined in comparison to the 2024/25 campaign, as he has struggled in ground duels, losing 51% of them this term.

Scales has lost a higher percentage of his duels on the ground and in the air than he did last season, which suggests that he has been a yard or two off the pace in the current campaign.

On top of his struggles in duels, the Irishman has lost possession 30 times in the last three Premiership and Europa League games combined. He has been too sloppy with the ball at his feet at times, gifting the ball back to the opposition too often.

Cameron Carter-Vickers’ long-term injury has led to Auston Trusty and Scales, two left-footed defenders, being the first-choice pairing for O’Neill, but the manager could totally end Scales’ career at the club by unleashing a talented young defender in his place.

The defender who could end Scales’ Celtic career

Dropping the Ireland international from the starting line-up for a right-footed centre-back would allow Trusty to move over to the left, where he is more natural at playing the ball out from.

Dane Murray has been providing back-up on the bench in recent months, but the Scottish youngster lost three of his four duels against Falkirk in a start in the Premiership earlier this month and, of course, scored an own goal and gave away a penalty against Hearts earlier this season.

Celtic, however, signed 20-year-old centre-back Benjamin Arthur on loan from Premier League side Brentford on deadline day, and he could be the player who ends Scales’ career at Parkhead.

He is yet to make his debut for the Hoops, as O’Neill did not select him against Dundee, but the youngster appears to have the potential to be an exciting prospect for the Hoops.

Steven Pressley, now manager of Dundee, worked with Arthur during his time as a coach at Brentford and described him as a “huge unit” who is like a “young Virgil van Dijk”, which is a huge comparison to make, given that the former Celtic defender is now Liverpool’s captain.

Arthur has only made three appearances at senior level in his career, to date, so it is hard to say with any certainty that he can step in and be O’Neill’s own version of van Dijk, but his performances in the League Cup for Brentford this season were incredibly promising.

The 20-year-old starlet started both of the Bees’ League Cup matches against Aston Villa and Grimbsy, impressing, before he was an unused substitute in a 2-0 loss to Manchester City.

Arthur won 73% of his duels, including 67% of his ground duels, in those two appearances in the League Cup, which suggests that the potential is there for him to step in as an upgrade on Scales, who has lost the majority of his ground duels in the Premiership.

The English centre-back, given Pressley’s comments and his statistics for Brentford, appears to be a dominant and van Dijk-esque player who does not give attackers much of a chance to beat him in physical duels, unlike Scales this season.

Whether he can be that kind of player for Celtic in the Premiership and the Europa League remains to be seen, but the Hoops signed him for a reason.

It is now down to O’Neill to unleash Arthur from the start in the weeks and months to come to have a natural balance of a right-footer and a left-footer in the centre-back pairing, whilst also ditching the underperforming Scales from the XI.

The upcoming summer transfer window could, then, be interesting if Scales finds himself out of the starting XI with Carter-Vickers due to come back next season, as it could throw his future and career at Parkhead into doubt.