Gordon Strachan has given his thoughts on Kieran Tierney’s return to Celtic this summer which was officially confirmed by Celtic Chairman Peter Lawwell in his report in the club’s interim results statement…
The former Celtic manager is a big fan of KT but warns that he will have his work cut out shifting Greg Taylor from the left-back position that he has made his own over the past six seasons, seeing off many rivals for the jersey…
Tierney’s got experience as a world footballer
“I think Tierney’s got experience as a world footballer with Arsenal and then Real Sociedad on loan. He’s had a good look at football, he’s joined a great club when he signed for Arsenal. When he first got there, he was a big star. Injuries unfortunately held him back,” Gordon Strachan said, speaking to Genting Casino about the possible competition for places at Celtic next season in the left -back role if Brendan Rodgers is successful in convincing Greg Taylor to stay at the club.
‘He’s got that power that will help Celtic’
“There’s a lot of things that happen in life and you have to deal with them and find a different path to go down. He feels like he wants to go back. In England, the Premier League, it is a powerful league. A physically powerful league. He’s got that power that will help Celtic. He can play in different positions.
Psychiatric room at Celtic’s training ground for the left backs
“He can play on the left, centre-back, left in a three. I feel that Greg Taylor’s been magnificent over the years because of the number of left backs he’s seen off. There should be a dressing room full of left backs who just sit there, who have come along and totally failed to move this lad. There should be some sort of psychiatric room at Celtic’s training ground for the left backs that come in and have been seen off. They’ll just sit there and go, ‘Why did I bother?’
‘It’s a different position where Taylor goes into’
“It might be different for Kieran, but he keeps seeing people off. Greg Taylor, he gets on with his job, he can score, he makes goals, he gets into great midfield positions. What’s happened is when he was brought in, they had him move into these midfield positions, but he was a midfield player when he was a kid so he can adapt to that.
“Whether Kieran can adapt as well as that to go into these midfield positions that we’d like them to do, it’s a different sort of thing. It’s a different position where Taylor goes into.”
