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Celtic: Greg Taylor signing now appears unlikely
Celtic’s plans to sign Kilmarnock left-back Greg Taylor could be abandoned as the two clubs have differing valuations of the player.
The Daily Express reported that Kilmarnock want £3m for the Scotland international, a fee that Celtic deemed excessive.
According to the Daily Express, the Hoops are willing to pay just £1m for Taylor and loan Jack Hendry to Kilmarnock as part of the deal.
However, with a notable difference in the clubs’ respective standpoints, the Daily Express claimed that a deal is unlikely to be completed before Monday’s transfer deadline.
Celtic had sent scouts to watch Taylor in Kilmarnock’s recent Betfred Cup match against Hamilton, as reported by the Daily Record, but it appears that they weren’t impressed enough to feel that his club’s £3m valuation is justified.
The left-back had featured in Kilmarnock’s first five games of the season but, as reported by the Evening Times, he was not in their squad for last weekend’s match against Aberdeen and also sat out training the previous day.
Still only 21, Taylor has played 130 times for his current club, scoring once and providing 10 assists in that time.
He averaged 4.11 successful aerial duels and 4.72 interceptions per game last season, but had a mediocre passing success rate of 74.2%. [statistics from Wyscout, via Herald Scotland]
Celtic had been interested in Taylor despite already signing one left-back in the summer in Boli Bolingoli.
The Belgian endured a shaky start to his Hoops career with individual errors that cost Celtic goals against Sarajevo and CFR Cluj in Champions League qualifying, according to Jonathan McFarlane of Football Scotland.
However, Celtic have conceded only six goals in the 10 matches in which Bolingoli has featured, having shipped four at home to CFR Cluj when he wasn’t in the team, and the 24-year-old seems to be showing signs of improvement recently.
Sourav Mahanty of The Celtic Bhoys wrote: “After a solid display against AIK on Thursday, Bolingoli backed it up with another decent performance against Hearts”, while Ryan Brown of Read Celtic feels that the defender “looks more confident with every game”.
Although Bolingoli has looked more solid in the games against AIK and Hearts in recent days, Celtic still seem light in the left-back area, where their only backup is Calvin Miller, who has made just five senior appearances for the club.
The fact that Lennon chose to play attacking midfielder Callum McGregor out of position at left-back in the defeat to CFR Cluj two weeks ago indicates the need to strengthen in this area, and with £25m in the bank from selling Kieran Tierney, it seems perplexing that they have deemed £3m excessive for Taylor, given his aerial ability and aptitude for stifling opposition attacks.
Celtic fans, do you think Taylor is overvalued at £3m or should the Hoops be willing to pay that much for him? Join in the discussion by commenting below!
