Despite contract talks for 14 capped Scottish international left back Greg Taylor having long been confirmed as being planned, with only a few weeks remaining in the 2024/25 Scottish Premiership campaign, a new extended deal for the 27 year old at Celtic has not yet been agreed.
Last week the speculation rumour mill went into overdrive discussing his potential departure from Parkhead this summer and it was suggested that our future would be focused on a returning Kieran Tierney, with Taylor weighing up potential alternative options in Scotland, England and even the United States with claimed Major League Soccer interest in his services.
As the weekend progressed though, and with him playing a pivotal Man of the Match role in our clash and victory over former club Kilmarnock, the headlines quickly turned to rumours that manager Brendan Rodgers was still hell bent on keeping the player with us and that the 52 year old had not yet given up on getting a new deal secured for him. Fans who like a flutter will be watching his odds closely, but for those who prefer casino games, being able to dabble for an outlay as small as £1 will definitely peak their interest as football edges towards a close.
With Taylor unavailable for post game press duties (his new born daughter had been a mascot) it was initially used as proof that he would be off, but Rodgers was asked the question in his own press interviews and he disputed that, stating that he would ‘fight to the end’ to keep him at the club, but he did also say that irrespective of how hard he tried to ‘convince’ Taylor to stay with us, that he had ultimately earned the right to make his own ‘decision’ on what his future held.
With well over 150 club starts across all competitions for us, the player has been a huge servant down the years since his arrival back in September 2019, so whatever happens with Tierney, it is completely understandable as to why Rodgers would want to keep him in the group and as an option, but despite his more recent comments on the topic, the links to new clubs continue to hit the headlines and the old Dinamo Zagreb speculation has not gone away either despite the length of time that the Croatian rumours have been doing the rounds.
This story does not seem to be going anywhere soon, and it is, of course, just one of the player related stories that we can expect to dominate the rumour mill as the next few weeks tick by. Rodgers is credited with having an interest in numerous potential incoming players and fans will be hopeful that we will strengthen and have a mini rebuild as having reached the Champions League knockout Play Offs this year, consolidation (or better still taking one more step) will obviously be the aim for the coming 2025/26 campaign.
That will also mean a few more departures as well, and whilst the likes of Gustaf Lagerbielke are easy picks to move on, there will probably be one or two faces that will leave fans scratching their heads, but that is nothing new in football really, we just have to hope that whatever we do in the transfer market leaves us in the position we want to be in.
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