Former Celtic star Charlie Mulgrew knew Kieran Tierney would be a star when he got stuck in to his Parkhead heroes from day one in training.
Dundee United defender Mulgrew admits he was star-struck the first time he went in to training with the Celtic first team.
But when he saw Muirhouse's Tierney fly into tackles on his first day, he knew the 17-year-old kid would go far.
Six years on, Tierney is strutting his stuff for both Arsenal and Scotland and Mulgrew isn't at all surprised that he's a key figure for both.
He told the Scottish Sun : "People talk about KT’s attitude now he’s an Arsenal player, but I saw that on the first day he trained at Celtic.
"Honestly, he was fearless.
“I know what it’s like to make the step up from training with the youth team to the first team and it’s terrifying.
“He was only 17 at the time and it’s a daunting thing to do, especially when you’ve been at the club since you were 12 or 13, and have looked up to all the players in the first team.
“My little boy is in the Celtic academy now. Whenever he sees a first-team player he’s star-struck because it’s the guys he normally sees on the TV.
“We’ve all been there, growing up and watching your heroes.
“I was there myself; watching Henrik Larsson, Chris Sutton and John Hartson. and I suddenly found myself in that environment.
“Personally, I was a bag of nerves because it’s surreal and almost unbelievable that you find yourself in that position.
“But KT settled into it a lot quicker than I did. He just started firing into people! I remember thinking to myself, ‘Fair play to you, wee man!’."
Mulgrew added: "Don’t get me wrong, he was a lovely boy and really respectful, but he wasn’t scared to get stuck in by closing people down and making tackles.
“It was his first training session, but he treated it like his last.
“These days, a lot of young boys come into the first-team training and they don’t think it’s cool to run about and work hard - they won’t want to appear too keen or busy.
"KT was the complete opposite and he stood out because of it.
“I can genuinely remember saying to myself, 'this boy will do for me’, because his attitude was just brilliant.
“He didn’t care about who he was up against, he was just sprinting everywhere and giving it absolutely everything.
“We were doing boxes and he was smashing into tackles all over the place, really intensely pressing the ball. That’s what Celtic were all about.
“It’s always easy in hindsight to talk about players who are at the top of the game, as he is now. But you could see he had a right good chance literally from day one.
“I think he’d admit himself, technically, he needed a bit of work. But as far as defending and attitude was concerned he had everything. I’m delighted he’s gone on to prove that.
“He quickly developed the technical side of his game, but that was down to sheer hard work and determination to make sure he made the most of the opportunity he had.
“I think at the time he started training with us he wasn’t even getting a game for the reserves, but he got his chance to step up and he grabbed it.”
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