Online Writers' Player of the Year #4 - James Forrest

James Forrest made his international debut against Republic of Ireland and has 5 caps.SNS Group

It has been a fantastic season for Celtic this year, with players like Charlie Mulgrew, Joe Ledley and Gary Hooper getting a lot of praise.

Yet another of their top performers has been youngster, James Forrest.

The twenty-year old winger, who can also play up-front, has had a great season and helped his club secure their first league title in four years.

The reason I like Forrest is that he seems to be a throw-back to a better generation of Scottish wide players. He is a winger who can play on either flank, can use both feet, and has good close control. Plus he is pacey and direct, attributes sorely lacking in many of our youth products.

Scotland loves a winger with these qualities; players who remind us of talents such as Jimmy Johnstone and Willie Henderson.

While he maybe small, he has bulked up in the past 12 months, and is not easy to shove off the ball.

For one so young he has played a lot of first team games already, making 49 appearances for the League champions this season. That is a huge amount of experience, particularly when you consider he wasn’t involved after the League Cup final in March when he suffered an ankle injury.

In Europe he played in seven out of the eight Europa League games, impressing in the games against Udinese. He’s managed to add a few more goals to his game, bagging nine this term, proving he isn’t scared to cut inside and have a shot from either side.

He has also cemented his spot in Craig Levein’s Scotland set up this year, winning four caps for Scotland since August.

He graduated from the under-21 side who recorded a fine 2-1 away win against the Netherlands this season. In that game James, who impressed throughout, used his pace to find a yard of space on the right before sending in a cross that was converted by Jordan Rhodes for Scotland’s opening goal. Both have now graduated to full international level.

The fact Scotland now have wingers such as Forrest, Wylde and Dundee United’s Gary Mackay-Steven, suggests we have exciting, creative options, as long as the manager decides to go with two wide men.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon certainly believes in his player, he said: ‘James could go on to be a superstar and has been a real find for us’.

His impressive contributions this year haven’t gone unnoticed elsewhere either as he has been heavily linked with a £7m move to Tottenham after Harry Redknapp admitted he liked the player. Forrest himself came out issuing a plea to stay at Parkhead and help the club reach the Champions League.

The end of season has brought a lot of recognition Forrest’s way as he collected the writer’s, PFA and SPL’s young player of the year.

The recognition hasn't just been limited to his home country. In January FIFA announced the 13 young players to watch and the Scottish starlet made that prestigious list, showing that his reputation is growing throughout the footballing world.

There is certainly more to come but there should be no doubt that James Forrest has been one of the best Scottish players in 2011/12. His gets fans off their seats and the level-headed star has shown he can perform to a standard and maturity well beyond his years.

Scott Johnston is the editor of The Footy Blog. You can follow him on Twitter

More About Scottish Player of the Year

People who read this story also read