Auston Trusty’s move to the Sheffield United bench in the early stages of the EFL Championship season has led to reported interest from the reigning Scottish Premiership champions.
Celtic are interested in acquiring the American centerback in a permanent deal from Sheffield United, Sky Sports and BBC Sport reported. In a separate deal, the Blades are interested in Republic of Ireland international forward Mikey Johnston, who spent the second half of last season on loan at West Bromwich Albion.
Trusty, 26, made the move to Bramall Lane last summer from Arsenal and proceeded to make 34 combined appearances for the Blades. However, Chris Wilder’s men suffered relegation from the English Premier League, dropping back into the Championship.
The former MLS homegrown defender has not featured in each of Sheffield United’s opening two league matches this summer, despite scoring his first goal for the club in a 4-2 EFL Cup first round victory over Wrexham.
Trusty also made 48 appearances for then-EFL Championship side Birmingham City in a loan spell during the 2022-23 season.
A move to Celtic Park would unite Trusty with fellow U.S. men’s national team defender Cameron Carter-Vickers. Carter-Vickers is in his third season with the Hoops after originally joining on loan before Celtic exercised a purchase option from Tottenham in 2023.
Celtic travels to St. Mirren in league action this weekend before hosting rivals Rangers on September 1 in the first Glasgow Derby of the campaign.
VVD of Liverpool. Pretty decent center half
Clubs:
Groningen
Celtic
Southampton ( in the EPL at that time)
Liverpool.
Playing for Celtic won’t ruin Trusty’s life; NOT playing for the Blades might.
If they offer more money, it will be hard to turn down, but is Scotland a step up from the Championship? Beyond matches against Rangers and some Euro competition, will this move make him a better player?
Thats what I was saying, seems like a step down. I want him back in EPL.
classic snob fallacy. y’all keep confusing rank order with teaching quality. there are good teams with good coaches. there are good teams who just get a checkbook out and then expect things after you arrive.
brendan rogers is a good coach and they play a lively style of soccer where they sometimes get down the field in a hurry. to me the real issue with celtic is, having watched some of their first two games this season, they generally pound their opposition in the ground, the old firm is just another plane from the rest of the league. that team is above c’ship, is solidly UCL level. the rest of the league isn’t.
i’d be more worried celtic guys show up used to pinning teams back and not necessarily ready for a real contest.
They expressed the same concern as yours, stated differently… pounding the opposition, pinning teams back… Trusty going to step down in the level of competition.
no, sorry, it is 2 different things to say “the whole league sucks” (their theory) and “being the good team in a mediocre league can make you sloppy and less prepared when a good opponent shows up.” difference between “bad” and “bored.”
in terms of “make him a better player,” that’s usually your own coach doing that work. snobs have this weird fallacy where the opponents teach you things. it’s used to justify our difficult schedules. you would think US fans would know better from 2018 or this year than that a hard schedule teaches you to be good. it can instead exposed you don’t know what the eff you’re doing in a positive sense. if it teaches other than “that’s interesting” it’s usually in a negative “not working” sense. which the US lately cannot be bothered listening to.
which, anyhow, my point is, celtic is a well drilled unit well taught by rodgers. that will “make him a better player” in the education sense. the downside is not learning, it’s playing defense there, until UCL or the international window, lulls you to sleep. c’ship is a step down in terms of the team and coaching, but you will be wide awake from their schedule. that’s not you learn more, that’s alertness.
Carter-Vickers had been pretty poor for US despite serving under Rodgers. Celtic has also been smashed in their CL play so I’m not sure the benefit of being played off the field in CL outweighs light work in your league. Playing 9 tough games a season maybe isn’t enough even under as you said a good manager. Celtic hasn’t won a European knockout round CL or EL since the old UEFA Cup in 2004. But as Gary said below if you aren’t playing in The Championship…
What good is it staying in the Championship if they don’t play him. I don’t understand how he could have been a regular starter in the Premier League but then put on the bench in the Championship. It only makes sense to me if they didn’t want him injured because they were shopping him. At least Celtic plays Champions League regularly and often makes the knockout rounds. Plus, he should be a regular starter. If the pay is good, the only real downside I see is that Scottish weather can be even worse than English weather. On the other hand, Celtic is one of those teams really revered by its fans. A regular there probably never has to pay for a drink in a pub.
They’ve been using a 4-4-1-1 this season, last year they used a 5-3-2. Just math one less CB on the field this year.
It’s up to the player. By playing Europa League or CL plus for the USMNT, a player like him will have plenty of chances to improve if he focuses on that. Messi moved to MLS, but still played for Argentina in Copa America. Not to equate Trusty with Messi, but if you are good enough and rise above the competition enough, you will be noticed and possibly rewarded. Having CB’s like Trusty, CCV, and Richards is a pretty good group to choose from for the USMNT. In the past Holland did well in the WC with defenders from the Dutch league.
celtic’s success (or lack of same) in europe suggests for them it’s other than educational. and i know folks are gonna say snotty stuff about how scotland rates compared to england but they have struggled with danish, dutch, or ukrainian opposition, which suggests to me they are still asleep when europe comes, or what works in scotland for them doesn’t travel.
to me it’s most weeks you are in x league and that’s the comfortable measure of how you’re doing. you then suddenly step outside, and holy crap we’re not ready for this. for example, the risks that they take passing turn into a turnover deluge playing a good stay at home team like atleti, who whoops them 6-0. they’re getting exposed precisely because they are so much better than the rest of the SPL they aren’t used to it. but otherwise atleti doesn’t usually score that much on anyone because they wouldn’t be that naive.