Matthew Anderson assesses Celtic future and opens up on Admira Wacker loan

Matthew Anderson has opened up on his Admira Wacker loan spell after being the first to benefit from Celtic's link-up with them.

The young Hoops left-back headed out to Austria last summer along with teammate Tobi Oluwayemi but the goalkeeper picked up an early injury and had to be sent home, leaving Anderson to get used to his surroundings alone. The 20-year-old went on to play almost every game in the Austrian second tier and has soaked up the experience.

He said: "I’ve really enjoyed it. Me and Tobi were the first ones to go over there for the partnership with Celtic and I think it went really well for my first full season in football. The standard was surprisingly impressive I thought. A lot of the players told me they had spent time playing in the Austrian Bundesliga and it wasn’t much of a drop-off. I thought it was a perfect level for me to go into for my first season in football.

"My target was to go over there and play as many games as I could. And I think I ended up playing in every game I was available for. So it almost went perfectly.

“It was a big learning curve because Tobi did his meniscus at the start of the season so I was on my own. He had to go home for a few months. But I thought I coped with it much better than I was expecting. There was a winter break and that helped a lot because it split up the season.

“I learned how to cook maybe five dishes so I had them on repeat for the whole season and I had to do my own cleaning too! My girlfriend came over maybe more than once a month and my mum and dad and my brother came over a few times too.

“With that and the Scotland camps and me being back and forth it felt I was there for maybe three weeks at a time maximum. As a football player, you learn so much in your first year of first team football, especially abroad. It’s almost a perfect fit because the standard of football was a really challenging level. But I was able to cope and hold my own.”

But what now? Anderson explained that the plan is to do pre-season with Brendan Rodgers' side and try and stake his claim to be involved. The manager will then make a decision on whether another loan would be a beneficial.

“The plan for me is to go back and report for pre-season with Celtic. Maybe the manager will have a look at me and let me know if he feels whether I should have another loan or not. I’m not looking too far ahead. I’ll just go with the flow.

“I have been with Celtic for the past few pre-seasons and I trained with them when I came back from my winter break. Watching someone like Greg Taylor closely in training has been good for me. I try and pick up the habits that he has. He’s one of the players who are so consistent and works hard.”