Luis Palma has been handed a lifeline at Celtic, with manager Brendan Rodgers affirming the Honduran winger’s value to the squad during a challenging season.
Palma, who has struggled for regular minutes with just one League Cup start and a handful of substitute appearances, reminded everyone of his potential by netting a hat-trick in Wednesday’s friendly against Sligo Rovers. This standout performance has reignited interest in the 23-year-old as he fights for a more prominent role in the team.
Rodgers, speaking about Celtic’s busy schedule across domestic and European competitions, stressed the importance of players like Palma who can inject energy into the squad when needed. With Celtic competing on multiple fronts, including the Champions League, squad rotation and depth will be key, and Rodgers highlighted Palma’s ability to step up when required.
There has been some talk of a Celtic exit, but CeltsAreHere understands it that the winger is desperate to impress at Celtic and play on the Champions League stage. Rodgers didn’t give much away on potential transfer rumours, saying:
“It’s one of those ones where I think for all players, all players want to play. But I’m only really concentrating on this next period. We’ve got a really busy period until January. I know I’ll need all the players.
“We’ve just come off a game of a run there of seven games in 23 days and there’s going to be times where we’re playing every two or three days and we need that energy. Sometimes that won’t be there like we had against Ross County in the first half but that will be the case in some other games. We need players to come off the bench, bring that energy and Luis is definitely one of those players that can do that for us.”
The Celtic boss was impressed with Palma’s hat-trick, praising his positioning, finishing, and tactical awareness. However, Rodgers also cautioned the winger against trying too hard to force his play, advising that Palma’s natural technical ability and strong work ethic would allow him to thrive if he remains patient and confident.
He told RecordSport: “I was really pleased for him the other night. He took his goals really well, especially the last two, where he really got into the areas at the second point where we want him to get into.
“He worked hard, but that’s not an area that there’s any doubt with. You have to do the work, but that was a nice exercise for him. He wanted to stay in the international break to get the work in and obviously playing this game and it’s been a nice reward for him.
“It’s just about not forcing it. I think sometimes the thing with wingers is, when other players are in the team and scoring and creating goals, you feel you really want to come in and force it a little bit. I think sometimes that’s what’s happened with Luis.
“He’s a very good technician and when he plays for the team and works hard and presses well then he can be a really good player.”
Whether Palma’s hat-trick on Wednesday will force him into the manager’s thinking going forward remains to be seen, but he’s certainly trying his best to impress.
