Greg Taylor Celtic Return Takes Twist

Greg Taylor’s return to Celtic looks increasingly unlikely, with Taylor now featuring as a central midfielder in recent European qualifiers.

Beginning with the 3-2 aggregate defeat to Anderlecht over the last fortnight, Taylor came off the bench in both games to play in central midfield, a role he is known to have played earlier in his career.

Taylor often inverted for Celtic, a role he thrived in, and questions were sometimes asked over whether he could play in midfield for the Hoops. He now looks set to stay in Greece and continue playing in the middle of the park.

With Landon Emenalo set to imminently join Celtic on loan for the rest of the season without an option to buy, due to how highly rated he is at Chelsea by Xabi Alonso, the England Under-18 international instead looks set to be the Hoops’ backup to Kieran Tierney, rather than Taylor, as had previously been speculated online.

Taylor continued in his new role on Thursday night in the Conference League play-off first leg against Brann, playing the final 24 minutes off the bench.

Burnley and Malaga are also believed to be interested in Taylor, but given the strong murmurs online about a Celtic return, that now looks increasingly unlikely.

Emenalo, at 18, has a massive future ahead of him and is certainly a high-risk, high-reward loan signing. If he plays well, Celtic benefit in the short term, but fans will naturally ask questions about the lack of an option to buy.

The same criticism could have been levelled at re-signing Taylor as another short-term move, with Celtic consistently bringing back former players in recent years. Instead, it now looks like faith will be placed in Emenalo.