NEW Celtic signing Lewis Morgan was told he would end up playing in the JUNIORS by a former St. Mirren manager when he was a kid, his team mate Craig Samson has revealed.

Morgan has become one of the most exciting prospects in Scottish football in the past couple of seasons and clinched a £300,000 move to Parkhead this month before being loaned back to the Paisley club.

The two-footed winger is once again expected to be the danger man for Jack Ross’s on-form side when they take on Aberdeen in the pick of the William Hill Scottish Cup fourth round ties at Pittodrie early this afternoon.

However, St. Mirren keeper Samson has spoken of how the prodigiously talented 21-year-old’s hopes of making it as a professional were completely dismissed by a former manager when he was just a teenager.

He refused to name the individual who had made the scathing assessment of Morgan’s prospects, but it is believed it was Alex Miller, the former Hibernian and Aberdeen manager and Scotland and Liverpool assistant, who had a brief spell in charge as caretaker at the end of 2015.

“He was written off by managers who were here before,” said Samson. “He has been told by different people at this club that he wouldn’t be playing football in a year.

"He was told he would be playing junior football by a certain manager at this club. It shows the character he has that he has kicked on and proved people wrong and he has got a move to Celtic.

“I won’t say who the manager is, but it is something Lewis told me. A few people had written him off. He got released from Rangers as a kid and was written off.

"But now he finds himself in a position where he can look back at those people and say ‘well there you go’. He has to keep going when he goes to Celtic but he knows that.”

Samson added: “It made me laugh when I heard what he had been told more than anything. It is something that shouldn’t be said to a young kid, but it shows his character. Some young boys would crumble, but Lewis is the type of boy who deals with it.

“He is a good professional who helps the younger boys out and it is a credit to him that he has done so well. It isn’t about Lewis it is about the whole team and we know what he brings to us, but he knows what everyone else brings to help him.

“It’s a funny old game football. Some people want to bring people down in the game. That is where our manager is different. He has a relationship with everyone and he knows how to push your buttons and get the best out of them."