Scott McKenna to Celtic rumours now look laughable

Add as preferred source on Google

It’s not so long ago that Celtic were genuinely linked with a move for Aberdeen centre-back Scott McKenna.

The Scotland international was seen as a potential candidate to fill the large defensive hole left by the summer departures of both Dedryck Boyata and Filip Benkovic. The Scottish Sun even had an exclusive in late June that the Hoops had seen a £5million offer for the 22-year-old thrown out.

The report was then later dismissed by both parties but it is still widely understood that there was some sort of interest in McKenna shown by Celtic.

McKenna was given a torrid time by Celtic

However, the defender’s display in Sunday’s 4-0 reversal to Neil Lennon’s men just showed that he is not at our level. He didn’t have an absolute shocker by any means, certainly no more so than a lot of his Aberdeen teammates.

But McKenna didn’t deal well with our attacking threat all afternoon with the likes of Odsonne Edouard and Mohamed Elyounoussi routinely fooling him.

The Sun’s June report stated that the Dons were holding out for around £10million for their most prized asset. Celtic paid 70% of that for Christopher Jullien – a man who is starting to reach heights that McKenna could only dream of.

There is not a great deal of talent in Scotland

Away from McKenna, the wider point here is that there’s not a great deal of talent in Scotland that we should be concerning ourselves with. Both Uche Ikpeazu and Lawrence Shankland have been mentioned as possible January striker signings in recent weeks but the reality is that neither are nearly good enough to make the step-up.

There are only a handful of players playing in Scotland that are good enough for Lennon’s star-studded squad. Greg Taylor was an obvious one who could come in and improve our options at left-back. Motherwell youngster David Turnbull also looks to have the potential if he can shake off his injury worries.

But other than that, and a couple of unattainable players from across the city, there’s nothing to whet the Celtic appetite. Scotland no longer looks like a worthwhile shopping place. Especially when McKenna is concerned.