Belgium coach Shaun Maloney has heralded Kieran Tierney as an elite defender.
The former Celtic star was a guest on Graham Hunter’s Big Interview podcast (April 4th). It was on there the ex-Celt discussed the current Hoops left-back, and couldn’t speak highly enough of him either.
Maloney never had the chance to work with Tierney much whilst he was Reserve Team coach. This was due to the fact that Tierney had already broken through into the first-team.
Despite that, he still believes the Celtic wonderkid can become the first player in Scotland to scoop up both Scotland’s Young Player of the Year and Player of the Year awards since Maloney himself.
Speaking on the podcast, the former Celtic and Aston Villa star had this to say on KT.
“I don’t know how old he is now but the level he was at before his injury problems, definitely (could win both awards. It wouldn’t be a huge surprise if he did manage to do that in the next few years.
“When you speak about the top defenders, Kieran shows similar traits in terms of backing himself one-on-one. He’s very very aggressive, technically sound, really good speed even in the attacking area.
“He works with the coaches extremely hard to actually become a better defender in terms of position and technique and things. He looks like that elite defender that we speak about.”
Ringing endorsement
Tierney could certainly use the kind words from Maloney as strong encouragement of what he’s capable of producing.
There’s been no denying that the youngster has had his injury problems this season. He’s made 37 appearances for the Hoops, but they’ve been broken up with niggling knocks. The hip injury that kept him out between December and February, however, appears to have been a nasty one.
It’s also had an effect on his games since returning. Despite playing 45 minutes against Rangers after another injury scare whilst with Scotland, it’s clear Tierney isn’t fully-fit. He still needs more time before he can start producing what we all expect from him on a weekly-basis.
But Maloney is spot on to big up what the defender brings to the table when on-form. He’s by far the most attractive proposition in the Scottish Premiership when he’s firing, and is the most exciting youngster to come out of Celtic’s academy for a long time.
Hopefully, Tierney can get over those injury concerns before the end of the season and help steer us to that glorious Treble Treble. If he does, he’ll be going down as a Celtic icon.
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