Arzani trains with first team to close in on Celtic debut

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers brought young Australia star Daniel Arzani into first-team training on Tuesday night (AEDT) to raise hopes of an impending senior debut.

It's a promising sign for Arzani, who trained with the first team instead of participating for the reserve side - for whom he has featured a handful of times - in a match against Partick Thistle.

This could suggest Rodgers sees the 19-year-old finally stepping up from the reserves and worthy of a place in his first-team Hoops’ plans. 

The former Liverpool coach has so far called for patience, saying Arzani came to the club lacking fitness but that he's been 'very happy' with the progress he's making.

The former Melbourne City attacker was named in an extended 18-man squad for last week's match against Hibernian, in which fellow Socceroo Tom Rogic starred, but ultimately didn’t make it onto the bench.

While excluded from this Friday's UEFA Europa League squad to take on RB Leipzig, he could feature in the Scottish Cup semi-final on Monday against Aussie Oliver Bozanic's league leaders, Heart of Midlothian.