Reported Everton interest the biggest threat yet to Celtic’s Anthony Ralston hopes

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Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham have been linked with Celtic’s 18-year-old right-back.

Anthony Ralston certainly made headlines during Celtic’s 5-0 Champions League thrashing against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday. Though starting in a defence responsible for Celtic’s biggest home defeat in any competition since 1895, the 18-year-old full-back earned some degree of praise for his performance as he came up against the world’s most expensive footballer.

Neymar might have scored the opener and set up the third as Les Parisiens ran riot at Parkhead but Ralston, making his debut in Europe’s premiere club competition, more than held his own for the majority of the evening.

Laughing in the face of Brazil’s number 10 after Neymar was booked for taking a rather optimistic tumble, Ralston clearly wasn’t faced by the quality of his opposition.

And it’s a credit to the Bellshill-born full-back that Everton and Tottenham are interested in a player who has made just eight senior appearances in Celtic colours.

The Scottish Sun claims that Everton have been tracking Ralston since he broke into the Celtic team in the latter stages of last season and were impressed as he helped Scotland finish third at the prestigious Toulon tournament this summer. As well as the Toffees and Spurs, West Ham are also understood to be interested.

And this may pose a challenge to Celtic. After all, Everton are aggressively pursuing Britain’s most exciting young talent as part of a wide-ranging recruitment drive aiming to ensure a bright future at Goodison Park.

Lewis Gibson and Josh Bowler are just two of the exciting youngsters arriving on Merseyside recently while The Sunday People (10th September) claims Sheffield United’s David Brooks may not be far behind.

Tottenham, meanwhile, are renowned for giving young players a chance with Dele Alli, Harry Kane, Eric Dier and Harry Winks starring in the first team since Mauricio Pochettino took over in 2014.

Ralston, then, could be forgiven for being intrigued by interest from two of the Premier League’s most forward thinking clubs, with the Toffees especially seeming to be on a drive to recruit the brightest young British players. And, as he showed on Tuesday night, he is not likely to be daunted by the challenge.