Irish teenager Rocco Vata is in with the first team at Celtic under Ange Postecoglou on merit, according to the club’s B team boss Stephen McManus.

Vata’s friends in the Bhoys B team had an eventful day on Sunday, Dubliner Ben Quinn scoring twice in a 3-1 win over a Rangers side who finished the game with eight men after three red cards.

Vata (17) missed that match as he was on first-team duty, coming off the bench in injury time in their 2-0 league win away to Ross County.

And coach McManus says he’s delighted to see players like Vata and fellow Irishman Bosun Lawal move up to Postecoglou’s squad.

“The biggest thing about our role this year has been to try and develop players so that we can bridge the gap between our first team,” McManus said.

“We’ve not had Ben Summers, Bosun Lawal or Rocco Vata (in the B team) for a reason. That’s because they’ve been performing very well and then they are up with the first team,” he said.

"We don’t want them with us, in the nicest possible way, because that means they are then performing at a high level.

“You see that with Rocco coming on. We are absolutely delighted, and hopefully there can be a few more before the end of the season.”

Vata, who celebrates his 17th birthday later this month, made his first team debut for Celtic earlier this year.

A son of former Celtic and Albania defender Rudi Vata, he is eligible for a number of countries but declared for Ireland through his maternal grandmother, who is from Dublin, and played for the Irish U19s in their Euro qualifiers last week.