Celtic fans hold their breath on whether Kieran Tierney will don their colours again.
There has been a lot of noise around Tierney joining Celtic during the January transfer window and it has rightfully got the fans excited because on his day he is one of the best fullbacks in Europe.
Injuries have halted his progression and now the champions of Scotland have the chance to bring their boyhood fan back to where it all began.
But, so far, Greg Taylor is Celtic’s starting left-back, as Brendan Rodgers has come out and defended him after fans chanted Tierney’s name during the win over St Mirren on Sunday.
When together for Scotland, Tierney and Liverpool’s Andy Robertson are the ones ahead of Taylor, so you presume the same will happen if they play together at Celtic.
But Pat Bonner thinks Taylor already has an advantage over the man who has been the talk of the town.
Pat Bonner explains what Greg Taylor is better than Kieran Tierney at
What’s interesting is that, at Arsenal, one of the reasons why Tierney was loaned out to Real Sociedad last season was because of the players who pushed ahead of him at left-back.
It all started when Oleksandr Zinchenko joined Arsenal in 2022 and he became the regular starter at left-back because of his ability to play the inverted role, just like Taylor does at Celtic.
Pat Bonner thinks, in the Premiership, Taylor is ‘the best playing that role’ and that’s where he triumphs Tierney, as he told BBC Radio Scotland.
“I think Greg Taylor, in Scotland anyway, is probably the best playing that role,” said Bonner about Taylor coming into midfield.
“Now, probably sometimes, he overdoes it and finds himself on the other side of the pitch. But Kieran Tierney, you think back to when Tierney was at his best here (at Celtic). He was almost playing as an outside left. High up the pitch.
“There was Mikael Lustig that sort of sat as a right back, but sat with almost as a three at the back and that meant then that the winger would play in the pocket. A completely different way of playing. That adaption might be something they would look at.
Taylor’s stats for Celtic this season
Even though Taylor’s Celtic contract is running down and will expire in the summer, his manager is fighting his corner and it perhaps indicates that he will be at the club next season.
Added to that, you suspect that on-loan Barcelona star Alex Valle will return home and Celtic won’t try to pursue any type of permanent deal for the highly-rated Spanish star.
That then opens the door for Taylor and Tierney to battle it out, but how has the former performed this season?
