AUSTON Trusty has welcomed the competition he faces for a place in the Celtic starting line-up from Liam Scales – but expressed hope he can form an “extremely strong” central defensive partnership with his fellow United States internationalist Cameron Carter-Vickers.

The £6m summer signing has been preferred to Republic of Ireland defender Scales by manager Brendan Rodgers in the last three games and has helped the Scottish champions to record wins over Dundee in the William Hill Premiership, Aberdeen in the Premier Sports Cup and RB Leipzig in the Champions League.

The Parkhead club, who take on Kilmarnock at Rugby Park in the league this afternoon, have conceded just one goal, against German opponents Leipzig on Tuesday night, in those outings.

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Trusty, who missed training on Friday as a result of the ankle injury which he suffered in midweek, feels that having strong options in every position will help Celtic to perform at a consistently high level in every competition they are involved in this season.

“I'm just doing my thing,” he said. “I'm here for a reason. We're all capable players and I think that's a great for a team to have. You have guys who want to play and who are capable of playing. So any chance that you can get, whoever is playing, you want to take advantage of it.”

(Image: Craig Williamson - SNS Group) But the 26-year-old, who has been named in the United States squad for their two-legged Nations League quarter-final against Jamaica during the international break, confessed he has enjoyed playing alongside Carter-Vickers and revealed the chance to team up with his countryman was a major reason that he moved to Scotland.

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“I think it's amazing,” he said. “When I was deciding on coming here, knowing that that was the option, was attractive. It makes it very, very interesting and exciting to have two American centre-backs playing side by side in big important games at such a historic club. Hopefully, our partnership can become extremely strong.”
Trusty has also relished playing alongside another established internationalist since joining Celtic – 109-times capped Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

“Kasper's class, he's the real deal,” he said. “It's really good as a centre-back and defender to know you have someone like that behind you. With his feet and also defensively and as shot-stopper, he really is a class player and it's an honour to play with him.”