Greg Taylor: From bit-part Celtic left-back to 'player of the season' candidate
- Published
Greg Taylor has made himself a key cog in Ange Postecoglou's Celtic side
When Alexandro Bernabei penned his five-year deal at Celtic in June, it was perhaps assumed by many that the Argentine's multi-million pound summer move would signal the end of Greg Taylor's brief spell as Ange Postecoglou's first-choice left-back.
The 22-year-old signing from Atletico Lanus was expected to be the latest in a long line of shrewd acquisitions by the Celtic manager - and he may well still turn out to be - but Taylor has since cemented himself as one of the first names on Postecoglou's team sheet.
Following last Saturday's league victory over Aberdeen, the Scotland international with 10 caps to his name spoke of the intense competition for starting places - a driving factor that has made the full-back undroppable on the left of the Celtic defence.
BBC Scotland looks at how Taylor has gone from a bit-part player to a key cog in Postecoglou's side.
'He's improved a hell of a lot' - but how?
Postecoglou isn't usually one to single out individual players for praise. When he does, you know you are on the right track.
After Taylor marked his 100th Celtic appearance with a goal and an assist in October's 3-0 win over Livingston, the Australian spoke of how the left-back has embraced the club's "environment where players can constantly improve".
"He has improved a hell of a lot because he wants to improve," Postecoglou said. "From the moment I arrived, he is one of the few who have stayed on and you can see he's growing all the time as a footballer."
Taylor's numbers certainly back up his manager's view. The full-back has improved in almost every aspect of his game this season.
Due to the inverted nature of Postecoglou's full-backs, the Scotland cap is involved in so much of Celtic's play on the ball. In the last two league games alone, Taylor accumulated more touches than any other player against both St Johnstone (130) and Aberdeen (133).
In an attacking sense, Taylor's current goal tally of three is a career high. He will almost certainly want to improve on his solitary assist, but his chance creation of 1.6 per 90 minutes is just shy of team-mate Matt O'Riley, who leads the 2022-23 Premiership assist chart with 10.
In comparison to last season, Taylor has almost doubled his shooting output (from 0.5 to 0.8 per 90), while he also averages 13 more successful passes in the opposition half.
Taylor's defensive numbers have been more stable, but the full-back has still managed to improve on both his ground and aerial duel stats.
A 'player of the season' contender?
Life at Celtic is rosy at present for Taylor, but he had to bide his time after a tough introduction.
Despite joining from Kilmarnock with the reputation of a top Premiership full-back, the former Rangers youth product made just 12 league appearances in his debut season for the club.
The 2,395 minutes he has played so far this term is already greater than the total he managed in his second season and is more than 85% of the tally he racked up last campaign.
Injuries, manager preference and the demands of moving to a club with Celtic's ambitions perhaps all played a role in his bit-part spell. But, since the start of 2022, Taylor has made himself a regular fixture in a side that won both the Premiership and League Cup last term.
Replacing fellow Scotland left-back Kieran Tierney, who departed to Arsenal for a record-breaking £25m fee just a month before Taylor's arrival, also couldn't have been easy.
Taylor stressed he would make "no comparisons" with Tierney at the time of his signing back in September 2019. Four years on, he hopes "someone will be getting compared to me" years down the line.
Tierney echoes a similar sentiment. The Arsenal defender has even been picking the brains of his Scotland team-mate, who Tierney believes could be set for a coveted individual award.
"He's been brilliant," Tierney said. "Inverted full-back, that's how [Arsenal] are playing, so I'm watching him every week trying to take tips from him."
Speaking to SunSport, external last month, the Arsenal full-back added: "Greg's different from me. He's got his own strengths. He's very technical and on the ball he's among the best there is. For me, he's a contender for player of the year."
Maintaining his current level form will certainly have Taylor in the conversation for individual awards come the end of the season. Maintaining it on Sunday, along with the rest of his team-mates, might well result in another winner's medal round his neck.
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