James Forrest, born in Prestwick on 7 July 1991 (age 35), has spent almost the whole of his senior football life at Celtic. A right winger who wears squad number 49, he announced himself properly by scoring on his first-team debut, a neat early marker for a player who would become one of the club’s major modern figures.
His Celtic career is not built on a single purple patch. Across 18 seasons he has made 364 league appearances and scored 74 league goals, with his most productive league campaign coming in 2018-19, when he scored 11 times in 33 appearances. At his best, Forrest gave Celtic directness, end product and reliability from wide areas – useful qualities, and not exactly in surplus over a career of that length.
The honours tell their own part of the story. Forrest has won 13 Premiership titles, six League Cups and six Scottish Cups with Celtic, a haul that places him firmly among the most decorated players in the club’s history. That it has all come at one club gives the record a particular weight.
He remains part of the current Celtic squad. In 2026-27, he has made 11 appearances across all competitions, including two in the league, five in the Scottish Cup and four in the Europa League. His current market value is around £255,000, according to Transfermarkt.
Forrest’s career is straightforward to frame: a Scotland international from Prestwick whose club football has been defined by Celtic, from a debut goal through to a long, trophy-heavy spell that is still not quite finished.
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