Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has shown a willingness to get young players involved in the first-team squad in Glasgow so far this season.
The likes of Rocco Vata and Daniel Kelly, who has made four appearances in the Scottish Premiership, have been given opportunities to impress in recent months.
Celtic's B team has a number of impressive young talents who should now be looking to make the step up and prove to Rodgers that they have what it takes to play in the first-team on a regular basis.
The Northern Irish manager could look to the B team to find an heir to Kyogo Furuhashi, who he has failed to get the best out of this season, in the future, and teenage star Lewis Dobbie is a candidate to fill that role.
Kyogo Furuhashi's struggles under Brendan Rodgers
The Japan international won the PFA Scotland Player of the Year award for the 2022/23 campaign after his fantastic form under Ange Postecoglou in the Scottish Premiership.
Kyogo plundered an exceptional 27 goals in 36 league appearances for the Scottish giants to earn the award, and you could forgive supporters for being excited about what he could achieve this season.
Appearances
36
33
Goals
27
11
Big chances missed
16
21
Minutes per goal
86
200
Assists
2
4
As you can see in the table above, the 29-year-old marksman's form as a finisher has been significantly worse in the current campaign in comparison to last term.
He has scored 16 fewer goals and missed five more 'big chances' in three fewer appearances in the division so far, with a whopping 114 more minutes per goal on average.
Now 29, Celtic may need to start looking to the future beyond Kyogo, in case his form continues to drop off in the coming months and years, and Dobbie is one player who could eventually take his place.
Lewis Dobbie's goalscoring form for Celtic B
The 18-year-old talent has caught the eye with his performances in the Lowland League for the club this season, after ending last term with a big display in the Scottish Youth Cup final.
Dobbie, as you can see in the video above, produced an 'outrageous' backheeled finish to put Celtic 6-4 up in the final, to secure the win for his side.
He has followed that up with 13 goals in 29 Lowland League games for the Hoops B team so far this term, with one goal every 150 minutes on average.
That means that Dobbie has scored more frequently than Kyogo – who has averaged a goal every 200 minutes – at league level this season, albeit at drastically different standards, and that speaks to his impressive finishing for the youth side.
The teenage academy star, who has also scored one goal – taking his tally to 14 for the campaign – and provided one assist in five UEFA Youth League games, is also a versatile forward who can play off the left flank, whilst his main position is through the middle as a centre-forward.
At the age of 18, Dobbie still has plenty of years of development and improvement to go through and Celtic could view him as the long-term successor to Kyogo.
Rodgers could, therefore, unearth the long-term replacement for the Japanese striker if the 14-goal star can step up to first-team level and translate his goalscoring form to the Premiership.