Coming Of Age

Armstrong Oko-Flex says Celtic’s young Bhoys must perform at the highest level to impress

- Joe Donnelly

ONE week before travelling to the Hoops’ summer training camp in Austria and Switzerland, Craig Gordon informed his Instagram followers that the trip was to be the 20th pre-season regime of his career.

Likewise, Scott Brown has recorded an impressive 13 pre-season jaunts at Celtic, while James Forrest has racked up 10 in the senior side.

However, for a number of the club’s Academy stars, this year marked their debuts – with the likes of Karamoko Dembele, Barry Coffey, Grant Savoury and Armstrong Oko-Flex stepping up for the first time. Doing so in normal conditions at Lennoxtown is one thing. Doing so in 37-degree heat is another challenge entirely.

“The summer training camp was great, it was really intensive, and it was really hot,” said Oko-Flex in an exclusive interview with the Celtic View.

“Honestly, it was crazy how hot it was out there.

“It was so hot, and it was hard to breathe out there at times. You might not consider Austria as one of the hotter countries, I didn’t before we went out, but we were out there in heat over 30 degrees and there was no wind.

“Even a simple passing drill becomes harder when the conditions are like that, but that only makes you raise your game higher than ever.