Today, the story broke that Greg Taylor wants to move on.
That doesn’t surprise me in the least. It’s been coming for a few months now, especially since it became clear we’d offered him a new deal and he wasn’t going to sign it. He wants a fresh challenge and a new start somewhere he’s guaranteed to play every week, without any question marks over it.
To me, that’s fair enough.
Greg has been a good servant to Celtic. He’s given us several years, cost us very little money, and is entitled to go and seek whatever future he thinks he can get somewhere else. The rumour is Zagreb has made him an offer, and he wants to accept it. We should expect that deal to be done before the window closes, whether he goes now or signs a pre-contract and leaves at the end of the campaign.
I don’t like signing loan players without an option to buy.
If a player knows he’s leaving at the end of the loan, I don’t think you ever get 100% out of him. There are exceptions—Adam Idah was one—but they are rare. I don’t think Valle will be at Celtic next season, and I don’t think he’s done enough to be considered first choice, which says it all.
The talk about Kieran Tierney won’t go away. For some, that’s great. For others, like me, it’s not so good.
I wish it would go away and we’d focus on a more realistic, long-term option. I don’t want to sign a Kieran Tierney who is a shadow of the player we had before. I don’t want my last memories of him in a Celtic shirt to be of a guy hobbling around the field, making us wish we’d never signed him.
And I fear that’s exactly what we’re setting ourselves up for.
A fully fit Kieran Tierney is a great asset, absolutely. I’d take him back in a second if that’s what we were getting. But a fully fit Tierney who can stay that way wouldn’t be coming back to play at Celtic in the first place. He’d want to test himself at another top club. That’s why he left. It’s what he wanted more than anything.
Still, I don’t believe all this smoke is coming from nowhere.
I think there’s some truth in the stories, and we are seriously making an effort to re-sign Tierney. I can’t understand it myself, but it does appear to be underway, and we just have to wait to see what happens. He doesn’t fit the model, and his fitness issues are a real, genuine concern. But those in the Celtic power structure appear keen to get it over the line. Those who might have doubts are not in the discussion.
I don’t need to say this, but I will anyway: if we do this, I hope it’s a huge success. I won’t feel bad or embarrassed if it works out. No one will be happier than me to see Kieran come back and justify the faith being shown in him by so many in the support and at the club.
But don’t let anyone—media, fan media, or even Celtic—pretend this isn’t a risk. It’s a huge gamble, and an expensive one, and it’s all being done on blind faith that it will pay off. The price we’ll pay to bring him back won’t be cheap.
We’ve been searching for a quality left-back for years, someone who can come in, stay in the team, and improve that side of the pitch.
I refuse to believe there isn’t a safer option out there. Instead, we’re asking a player with a long injury history to step in as first choice in a critical position. If his name wasn’t Kieran Tierney, would anyone even try to justify this gamble? I’m not asking people to call it a disaster before it happens, but we need to acknowledge the risk and urge the club to take steps to mitigate it.
If we’re going to sign Tierney, it needs to be, initially, on a short-term deal. And we need to bring in a good-quality backup as well. That way, we strengthen the squad and give ourselves options. Anything else, and I fear we’re going to pay for it.
Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images
There are risks with every signing we make – and the biggest risks are invariably mindset and attitude. Players who “don’t fancy” the Astro at Killie or the howling gale at Ross County.
When you look at KT’s injuries at Arsenal then it’s been hamstring, knee and shoulder which have kept him out for majority of his time there. Shoulder was an op not dissimilar to what Kyogo probably needs doing. Since the knee op then no further issues. Hamstring has been a problem and I suspect one that will need to be managed carefully (e.g. international football reduced, especially long flights to Eastern Europe).
But on the positive side – a truly international class player who can play LB and also left in a three back with a first class attitude and if you are looking for a vice-captain you won’t find a better option.
And I am not a sentimentalist but remain convinced that we overplayed a young player and didn’t protect him well enough such that some of the injuries he has incurred in his career are down to us.
James I agree with you 100% any big-name signing is a gamble with a degree of risk in terms of injury. For example our £11 million pound summer signing could have been blinded at Ibrox last week. If we only considered the cost and the risks, we wouldn’t sign anyone.
If Engels had been seriously injured, then we could find ourselves in future scenarios where agents and advisors for any new signings may not be prepared to risk their players safety if they sign for Celtic.
So, to reduce the risk to our staff and our players going forward, we should consider mitigating against possible injury through thuggery at Ibrox by refusing to play there until the SPFL takes action. We must protect our assets.
Agree with you on this, the repeated acts of violence towards our players and backroom staff has become routine at this ground, and to a lesser extent at Tynecastle without any action being taken by the Football administrators. When will the Celtic Board take steps to protect their employees before someone is seriously hurt.
Totally agree with you James, terrible idea but it may be guilt as we did break him, overplaying the lad when he wasn’t 100%
Kieran going to say Italy, France, Germany might work out…
But coming to Scotland – A European Capital Country of THUGGERY…
It’s a Helluva, Helluva, Helluva, Helluva Risk for sure !
Financially there is no risk, in fact right now the KT balance puts us 25M in the black and he is going to cost us nothing in transfer fees when he does sign on again, Wages? who knows but I am sure he will not be greedy, he just wants to come home. We will be getting a player who loves Celtic, who bleeds green and white and would die for the Celtic cause. It’s a no brainer in my eyes, fuck the perceived possible injury risk, we will deal with as it comes and if it comes.
Bring our Bhoy home!
Kieran sick note Tierney, is a cracking player when fit, but that’s the thing, he is hardly ever fit. He was a good player for arsenal, but he then lost their faith with his injury record. I hope I can be proved wrong, but I’m not as ecstatic as some others are on this, we need fully fit players.
If the board can sign Kieran on loan with the option of a permanent deal at the end of the season then that would minimise the risk. They could then decide if his injuries could be managed before committing to a permanent signing. They’d also be adding another leader to the dressing room.
A no brainer for me.
I think signing Kieran is a risk ,how long would he have lasted against sevco in last Thursdays game ,the way their players go about their business,they would have targeted Kieran right from the off,the hammer throwers dream playing against a guy with an injury problem,and forget about playing him at Killie or any other games during winter when the ground can hard ,nah a fully fit Kieran no brainer but we won’t be getting a fully fit Kieran,it’s too much of a risk ,suppose we do get him and Taylor goes elsewhere ,what if Kieran picks up an injury who’s going to cover for him.
Of course it’s a risk but if the manager and the medical guys decide the benefits outweigh the risks then I’m happy. That’s what they’re paid to do.
I understand the risks of this but to me it makes sense, he will add an ability we are lacking currently to attack down the left. I also think Valle has every chance of being here next season. I think he deserves a run of games in the starting line up. If GT is looking elsewhere then we need to give the guy a chance to get a proper look at him. Most times he’s come off the bench he has offered us something different to GT. He’s less afraid to push forward compared to Greg & generally I think we are better attacking with him on the pitch. I wouldn’t partner him with Scales as Greg does an awful lot of defensive work protecting Liam when they play together but I’d be more than confident he can do a job next to Trusty.