Stoke City right-back Moritz Bauer, currently on loan at Celtic, is a top notch athlete and utterly determined to succeed, his former manager Ulrich Forte insists.
The 27-year-old Austrian international joined Stoke from Russian outfit Rubin Kazan in 2018, but has struggled to make his mark at the bet365 Stadium and was sent on loan to Celtic in the summer.
Since arriving at the Scottish champions, Bauer has made four appearances across all competitions for Celtic so far, with his last outing coming away at Livingston earlier this month.
While Hatem Abd Elhamed, having made 11 appearances on the right side of the defence, is considered the side's first-choice right-back, 19-year-old Jeremie Frimpong impressing in back-to-back league games for the club has put question marks over Bauer's position at Celtic Park.
However, the Austrian's manager during the 2012/13 season at Swiss club Grasshoppers, Forte, has expressed confidence in him, heaping praise on the Celtic loanee's persistence.
The 45-year-old Swiss feels Bauer has made strides forward as a person and lauded the defender's intelligence and readiness to take responsibility, hailing him as a 'top athlete'.
“Moritz is an absolutely top athlete", Forte told The Athletic.
"One of the seldom players who are fast and persistent.
"He is intelligent and ready for taking responsibility, and has made an extreme development as a personality over the years.”
It remains to be seen if Celtic will look to sign Bauer permanently next summer, or whether the defender will head back to Stoke.
