Despite having got his season off to an impressive start, scoring two goals and registering three assists over his first seven appearances in Celtic's 2021/22 campaign, a knee injury halted James Forrest's progress under the management of Ange Postecoglou, with the winger remaining sidelined until October as a result of his knock.

Since then, the £5.4m-rated forward has struggled to get fully back up to speed, suffering a further injury setback in December, as well as directly contributing to just one goal over his 17 most recent outings for the Bhoys.

Indeed, over his 14 appearances in the Premiership this season, the £19k-per-week Scotland international has averaged an extremely disappointing SofaScore match rating of just 6.67, ranking him as the Hoops' sixth-worst performer in the top flight of Scottish football.

And, with Forrest entering the final 12 months of his current contract at Parkhead this summer, should the 30-year-old fail to impress the Greek-Australian manager over the remainder of the season, it is not an unimaginable scenario that Postecoglou could look to move the winger on at the end of the campaign - with the Scot already looking to be way down in the 56-year-old's pecking order out wide.

Furthermore, with an extremely exciting youth prospect appearing to be on the cusp of regularly breaking into the Bhoys first-team squad, Postecoglou could well have already unearthed Celtic's new Forrest - in the form of Owen Moffat.

Celtic's next Forrest

Indeed, having been handed his Celtic debut by the Bhoys head coach back in December, the 20-year-old winger has since gone on to make a further two appearances for the Hoops, with Postecoglou himself stating his surprise at Moffat's rapid rise to the first team.

Speaking after the forward's surprise introduction in the Scottish League Cup final, the 56-year-old said: "That's football life. Life is about opportunity. Not just being in the right place at the right time, but also being ready for it.
"Moff probably wasn't in the calculations two weeks ago, but we just had so many injuries and we brought him into training and he has looked bright. We brought him on the other night and he looked good. That, to me, is a lesson for every player out there. You have to be ready for that opportunity." However, while the speed of his inclusion in the senior squad was perhaps surprising, the reasoning behind Moffat getting the nod is rather more clear, as the forward has been in remarkable form for Tommy McIntyre's B team side this season, bagging 13 goals in the Scottish Lowland League - making him the reserve side's top scorer. Club captain Callum McGregor also appears to have been impressed with the talent the youngster possesses, stating of Moffat after the 20-year-old got himself on the scoresheet in pre-season: "A mention for young Moffat – his attitude has been first class. "I remember watching him at the end of last season, training on the astro himself. Every day they would do finishing and I remember thinking: 'He's got a finish on him.' I wasn't surprised when the ball dropped and he half-volleyed it into the net." As such, should Forrest's time at Celtic indeed be coming to an end, Postecoglou could well have already found a ready-made replacement for the 96-goal winger in the shape of Moffat. In other news: £5m wasted: Ange must finally axe "arrogant" £15k-p/w Celtic "rogue" as update breaks