If Owen Beck Is Celtic’s Left Back Answer We’ve Spent The Summer Asking The Wrong Question.

Celtic fans have been eagerly waiting for news on who our next left-back signing might be, and it looks like Liverpool’s young defender Owen Beck is emerging as the favourite.

Yes, that Owen Beck. Dundee last season Owen Beck. Targeted in January Owen Beck. Which tells you how much evolution there has been in our transfer targets list since then … first Bueno on loan, and now this. To say it’s uninspiring … well that’s an understatement.

This is another hint – as if we required one – that something has gone badly, badly wrong at our club.

Beck, who spent last season on loan at Dundee, is valued, by Liverpool, at £3 million.

However, no deal has been struck yet, with both clubs allegedly now in negotiations over the fee.

Now, let’s be honest—if Owen Beck is indeed the target, it’s hard to see him as a game-changer for our starting XI.

Greg Taylor is a solid player if unspectacular performer. I think he’s a better player than Beck is, based on what we’ve seen so far.

While I’ve long argued that Taylor needs genuine competition to push him to the next level, Beck doesn’t seem like the player to do that, far less replace him in the team which, no harm to Taylor, is exactly what we were hoping our left back signing would do.

Given the time we’ve spent waiting to see who that might be, it’s atrocious to learn that the top candidate is the guy who spent last year on loan in the SPL.

Celtic should be aiming for someone with the experience and quality needed for Champions League football. If Beck is the best we can do after a global search, it raises serious questions about every aspect of the Celtic Park operation. No-one should escape scrutiny here.

At this point, we need proven players who can immediately enhance the squad, especially with the Champions League on the horizon.

The fact that Celtic reportedly isn’t willing to meet Liverpool’s £3 million asking price suggests that even the club has doubts about whether Beck can make that grade. If he’s not worth an outlay such as that, he’s nothing but a squad player, isn’t he?

So why, after at least three full transfer windows looking for a Greg Taylor upgrade have we arrived at this?

Let’s be clear: Beck isn’t necessarily a bad player or a bad signing in and of himself. But right now, Celtic needs more than potential—we need players who can make an impact from day one. He will only provide Taylor with competition.

I doubt he will take his place in the team. Rather than an upgrade we’re spending money on a backup, and that’s unacceptable. I can’t imagine many in the fan base will see Beck as the sort of signing we were hoping for this summer.

To put it bluntly, this transfer window has been disastrous, and I wrote last night about how the Idah signing stinks of a club that went into this window with a single target, messed around although it had no Plan B and has ended up paying Norwich’s demand.

I have no faith whatsoever, based on this, that the club will deliver the quality of player we need now.

We may sign a couple of squad players, but Adam Idah is our big signing of the summer … and that barely takes us back to where we were when the last campaign came to an end. This is not underwhelming. It’s abysmal.

Owen Beck doesn’t get us even close to where we should be, especially with the Champions League looming. If this is the kind of move we’re making, it feels like the same old mediocrity, amateur hour again, and another demonstration that we’re getting things way wrong.

If we spend £3 million on Beck what do we have for an outlay of near enough £16 million?

A keeper to replace Hart, an understudy to him and a backup left back … and virtually the same match-day squad as last season.

A stronger squad? That’s a laugh.

For an outlay like that and so little to show for it compared to the last campaign, heads ought to roll.