Brendan Rodgers is eager to fully sort out his left-back spots for next season.
Celtic have had many players operate in that position in recent times, with Greg Taylor being the main guy, but his contract is due to expire at the end of the season, and he has only returned to the XI.
Before a ball was kicked this season, Alexandro Bernabei was still on Celtic’s books, before his permanent January exit, as Alex Valle joined on a loan deal from Barcelona in the summer, but that was cut short in the winter.
Amid all of that, Jeffrey Schlupp joined until the end of the season, Kieran Tierney will also return for the 2025/26 campaign, and nobody is the wiser as to who will compete with the Arsenal man next term.
There has been the suggestion that Taylor will leave because he knows he will play back-up to Tierney.
But Celtic are doing everything they can, with the push of Rodgers, to keep the Neil Lennon signing on board, as the Treble-chasers have been told how the duo can operate together next season in the same XI.
Kieran Tierney and Greg Taylor told they can play together in Celtic’s XI next season
Celtic progressed in the Champions League this season, including having to deal with some seriously tough away trips amid the change of format.
Stephen McGinn highlighted the games against Atalanta and Borussia Dortmund, and how those types of matches next season could be used to start Tierney and Taylor together, as he told Go Radio.
The Celtic-mad pundit stated that both players on the flanks would work, as he can still see Taylor playing ’50 games’ even if his fellow countryman is seen as the main starter under Rodgers.
“Kieran Tierney isn’t going to come and play 60 games, so there is an argument for Greg Taylor staying,” said McGinn.
“I think, even if Kieran Tierney is the starting left-back, I still think Greg Taylor plays 45-50 games, whether it be between starts and appearances. I still think he gets lots of football.
“I quite like the thought of, maybe Atalanta away, Dortmund away, these games where you could almost go Greg Taylor and Kieran Tierney on the left, and just be a bit more conservative when they do it, because they don’t really have those types of wingers apart from Daizen Maeda that can do a bit of both.”
Tierney, the winger at Arsenal!
Tierney has been fit and available for Mikel Arteta at Arsenal since before Christmas, but he has remained a bench option during that time.
With Arsenal reaching the Champions League semi-final, and the breakthrough campaign of teenager Myles Lewis-Skelly, it was always going to be difficult for Tierney to earn those regular starts again.
But what’s interesting is that, when Arteta has used the Scotland international, at times, it has been as a left-sided winger.
| Played as… | Games |
|---|---|
| Left-Back | 7 |
| Left Winger | 2 |
| Left Midfield | 1 |
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