Club issue statement as midfielder turns down Celtic move

Dylan Reid won’t be joining Celtic from St Mirren. 

Last week the midfielder held talks with Celtic officials but after thinking over the switch he has decided to remain with the Paisley club. 

His decision again highlights the issues that Celtic face in developing players from the club Academy into the first team picture. 

In the summer of 2018 Aaron Hickey opted to join Hearts from Celtic, four years later via Bologna he is a Scotland international that Brentford paid £15m to sign. In contrast, Owen Moffat, who is five months older than Hickey is looking for his next step after a season playing in the Lowland League and a handful of top team appearances.

On Monday night the St Mirren website announced: 

St Mirren Football Club can confirm that last week it allowed Dylan Reid permission to speak to a fellow cinch Premiership club regarding a possible transfer. 

We can now confirm that Dylan has turned down the opportunity to leave St Mirren at this point in time. 

The St Mirren Youth Academy graduate became the youngest ever player to play for St Mirren, as well as the youngest ever Scottish Premiership player, when he made his debut for Saints at just 16 years and five days old in March 2021. He has since gone on to play for the first-team on five occasions – most recently as a substitution in our 2-0 win over Cowdenbeath on Saturday. 

We are pleased that Dylan will remain at St Mirren and look forward to him continuing his development at the club. 

The first team pathway at St Mirren is more clear cut with Reid getting 10 minutes as a substitute in Saturday’s League Cup tie at Cowdenbeath. 

New St Mirren boss Stephen Robinson was in charge of Motherwell where David Turnbull came through the ranks to earn a £3m transfer to Celtic in August 2020. 

Ince Turnbull’s move to Celtic Kerr McInroy and Ewan Henderson have left the club with no news on Scott Robertson who started a Europa League group match in December 2019.