Opinion: Celtic must stop looking back for signings

Here’s why the club must considering former players

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Celtic have built much of their recent success by identifying talented players before they reach their peak. From Virgil van Dijk to Moussa Dembélé, Matt O’Riley to Jota, the club has repeatedly shown that looking for young and hungry players with something to prove can be fruitful for the club. Once the player has developed and been sold, Celtic should be already looking for the next Jota, the next Kyogo.

Talk of bringing back Greg Taylor and other former players just feels like a step in the wrong direction. How often do you see players return to their previous club and it fails to live up to their previous stint. It very rarely works with both players and managers.

This is not a direct criticism of Taylor. During his six years at Celtic, he was a model professional who worked tirelessly for the shirt. He won numerous trophies, became a key player under Ange Postecoglou and was an important part of one of the most successful periods in the club’s history. But football moves on. If Celtic are serious about developing and creating a new cycle then it doesn’t make sense to go back to previous players that have chosen to leave the club, unless they are an exceptional talent. Nostalgia should not play a part in bringing back players from former years. If you have the chance to bring back a Tierney or a Jota then you might think it’s worth it. However being linked with a return for an underperforming Kyogo then Taylor who decided to leave us 12 months ago, that smacks of desperation. The optics are that we can’t identify and secure a quality replacement so we’ll go back to the tried and tested.

There are exceptions to every rule

The return of Tierney is understandable because he is still a good age and has proved himself at the highest level. He fills a position where Celtic wanted genuine quality since KT left for Arsenal. This should be the exception though not the norm.

Celtic will always respect what former players like Taylor have achieved for the club. But at the end of the day he chose to leave. We need to show players that when you decide to move on from Celtic then the club moves on too. Sentiment cannot become part of the recruitment policy. Are you seriously saying we can’t find a good option to develop rather than bring back Taylor on loan? It would certainly fill a gap for another year, but thats what we’ve been doing for years with the backup left back role. Either invest in a quality young left back you can develop or bring one up from the youth. Have a proper plan in place. Enough of the short term thinking. Let’s build for the next three to five years. If Taylor does come back then fair enough. He’s a committed player. It’s not what I’d choose to do. I’d don’t think it’s what a forwarding thinking progress club does either.

Tim Lisbon

All views expressed on Celtic DNA are personal opinions and are for commentary and discussion purposes only

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