When Celtic signed Greg Taylor this past summer from Kilmarnock, it was hailed as a very shrewd signing. The club had lost Kieran Tierney to Arsenal and received a hefty £25million fee for the youngster and Taylor was expected to replace the departed defender.
A product of their Old Firm rival’s youth academy, Taylor had made a name for himself at Kilmarnock by putting in a string of consistent performances for the club.
In the Scottish Premiership last season, Taylor had played 31 times for Killie. He scored once and racked up a tally of four assists too, helping the club finish as high as third in the league.
Even as a teenager, the left-back had made a mark at Rugby Park in the 2017-18 season. In the Premiership, the left-back had played as many as 33 times in the division. He assisted once, but for a player to play consistently at that level; it isn’t a sight seen too often.
If that isn’t enough, the Scotland international was also a regular in the 2016-17 season and it was his first full season playing for the club’s first-team squad. In that campaign, Taylor had become the team’s first-choice left-back and cemented his place in the side by racking up four assists in 34 Premiership appearances.
For a player who is 22-years-old currently, playing 102 games in the Scottish first division is rare. Celtic saw that with Tierney, who had played 170 first-team games for the Hoops at the same tender age.
As things stand though, Taylor has been let down by Neil Lennon not playing him enough in the first-team. The defender has made just one start this season and has not even played a single minute in Celtic’s impressive Europa League campaign.
The manager has usually utilised a flat 4-2-3-1 shape in the league and has either used Jonny Hayes or Boli Bolingoli at the left-back position. Bolingoli has played 10 times in that position in the league, while Hayes played in a left wing-back role in the games against Lazio in the UEFA Europa League. The 32-year-old has also played at left-back once in the Premiership.
While Bolingoli is a proper left-back, Hayes isn’t one. He is a left midfielder whose engine helps him track back and do the dirty work. He hasn’t started much in the league though, playing only 171 minutes in total so far.
These aren’t good signs for Taylor, who is probably the second proper left-back the club has in the current side. And here he is, not having played enough despite having played twice for Kilmarnock before having joined late in the summer transfer window.
Despite having been at Glasgow for over two months, he has played for his former side more this season. It presents a case of bad usage of a player who could well be their heir to Tierney, even though Bolingoli is 24 himself too.
But the Belgian is someone who can play in a variety of positions along the left-hand side of the pitch. In that sense, the £1.13m-rated man is the only proper left-back Lennon has at his expense. Throughout his young career, he has done well in that position – establishing himself at a young age.
If that isn’t enough for him to play regularly, only Lennon knows what is.