Jack Hendry earned a move to Scottish Premiership giants Celtic with a fine performance at Parkhead, Jason Kerr has a chance to do the same.
Three months after Jack Hendry produced an excellent defensive display at Parkhead, he was on his way to Celtic in a £1.5 million January deadline-day deal.
The highly-rated centre-back had made a good start to life at Dundee after his summer move from Wigan Athletic but, after that performance in the 1-0 defeat to Celtic in October, the 22-year-old suddenly found himself the subject of countless gossip columns.
Brendan Rodgers described Hendry as ‘outstanding’ on the day. And, according to TEAMtalk, personally demanded that Celtic bring him to Glasgow in the January window with a number of Premier League sides circling.
There is an opportunity, then, for young St Johnstone player Jason Kerr to put himself in the limelight in a similar fashion next weekend.
Tommy Wright’s St Johnstone travel to Parkhead on Sunday a fortnight after the Northern Irish manager claimed that his 21-year-old centre-back was ‘in the same bracket’ as Celtic’s new £1.5 million man.
“He can be every bit as good,” Wright told the Courier.
Like Hendry, Kerr is a talented modern centre-back who has enjoyed quite the rapid rise. He was on loan at Queen of the South until January but established himself as a key player for St Johnstone, starting their last three games.
With doubts surrounding the future of Jozo Simunovic and Dedryck Boyata, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Rodgers will be looking to bring another promising defender to the green half of Glasgow at the end of the season.
And if Kerr impresses against Celtic on Sunday, who is to say he will not follow in Hendry’s footsteps?
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