Celtic need to find some minutes for Greg Taylor soon

By David Walton

October 14, 2019

New Celtic signing Greg Taylor has yet to make his debut for the club as it stands, and that has to change soon.

Neil Lennon wrapped up the former Kilmarnock man on deadline day in a reported £3million deal (Evening Times). However, since signing well over a month ago, Celtic fans still haven’t caught a glimpse of the new man.

Instead, Lenny has played Boli Bolingoli-Mbombo in every single match so far since Taylor signed. The Belgian is most certainly the club’s first-choice at left-back, and this has been proven in matchday selections.

Boli remains Neil Lennon’s first choice (Michael Campanella/Getty Images)

That’s not to say that Lennon has shut Taylor out. The former Killie man managed to make the matchday squad against Kilmarnock several weeks ago. However, in recent weeks, he hasn’t been seen in any squads against the likes of Cluj, Hibernian, and Livingston respectively.

We’re getting close to a ruthless December schedule. If anything, we should have had all of our new signings bedded in by now and with first-team experience under their belt.

Taylor can’t boast that. He hasn’t been given a single minute on the pitch. That’s despite the fact that Boli has hardly been perfect over the last month either, despite some reasonable improvement.

Saturday reads like a good game to have Taylor involved in

Taylor was even called up to the Scotland squad for the recent matches against Russia and San Marino respectively. He was on the bench against both teams, but wasn’t given a nod by Steve Clarke.

Greg Taylor is still waiting on his first Celtic chance (Frank Abbeloos/Isosport/MB Media/Getty Images)

At this point, Taylor’s match-sharpness must be draining. He hasn’t played since August 17th, nearly two months ago. It’s not ideal to have him wasting away on the bench, particularly considering how much he cost the club.

There’s no real reason to go with Boli against County when we have Lazio coming up next Thursday night before a trip to Aberdeen in the Premiership. Those are the games we should be looking at our Belgian for.

However, for Saturday’s match with County, it seems like the perfect chance to give Taylor some game-time. He desperately needs it, and Celtic fans deserve to see what the club have bought in him.

Will Neil Lennon call on Taylor this weekend? (Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Outside of the duo, we don’t have any other back-up at left-back that doesn’t involve shoehorning. The time is right for Lenny to get him used to Parkhead and the expectations of being a Celt.

Ahead of a packed December schedule, who knows when we’ll need to call on him?