After a season of progress, Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic side will be striving for even better next time round, and planning for the summer has already begun at Parkhead.
Sat 13 points clear at the top of the Premiership with only seven games to go, the Hoops are on course for a sixth treble in just nine seasons.
Meanwhile, Rodgers guided the Bhoys to the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in 12 years, so they’ll be determined to go even further next year, entering in the play-off round in late August.
So, with one fans’ favourite poised to return to Paradise, the Celts could have been even stronger had they not released a 15-year-old who would go on to become the best on the planet in his position.
As it happens, he’s now even better than the incoming Kieran Tierney…
The latest on Kieran Tierney's return to Celtic
Back in January, Rodgers confirmed that Tierney will rejoin Celtic on a free transfer in the summer, after Arsenal decided against ‘activating an option to extend his contract’, as reported by David Ornstein of the Athletic.
“He is still, at this moment, an Arsenal player. We are agreed that it will definitely take place in the summer.” – Brendan Rodgers.
The 27-year-old made 170 appearances for his boyhood club before moving to the Gunners for £25m in 2019, still a joint-club-record sale, but his time in North London has been severely hampered by injuries.
So far this season, the Scotland international has seen just 261 minutes of club action, notably starting as part of a makeshift front three against PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League last month.
He has also featured at left-back, the position he’ll be taking up on his return to Glasgow in the summer.
He’ll return north of the border in search of more regular football, but did Celtic have an even better left-back in their academy, one that’s gone on to have an even more decorated career than his compatriot?
Celtic's world-class academy talent is now better than Tierney
Back in 2009, Celtic released a 15-year-old by the name of Andrew Robertson because, according to Robertson himself, he was “too small”.
“I was let go by Celtic at U15 level for being too small. That was the reason they gave me anyway. Being told that by Celtic made me determined to succeed. It was hard to take, nobody wants to get told they are not at that club any more, and my confidence took a hit.”
After that, Robertson joined Queen’s Park, then of Scottish League Two, making 43 appearances for the Spiders, revealing to Darrell Currie that his big breakthrough came when Rangers visited Hampden Park because the game “was on the tele”.
He did enough to catch the eye of Dundee United, who signed him in June 2013, appearing 44 times in tangerine, before moving to Hull City and then ultimately Liverpool.
With the Reds, Robertson is set to hoist aloft a second Premier League title in the coming weeks, having also won the Champions League, the FA Cup, two EFL Cups and a selection of other honours, making his 337th appearance for the club during Wednesday’s Merseyside derby victory at Anfield.
Ben Webb on Twitter believes he was ‘the best left-back on the planet’, while Andy Jones of the Athletic labels him ‘integral to the team’s transformation under Jürgen Klopp’ as well as Liverpool’s ‘most consistent performer’ during this era of success.
At international level too, Robertson took his tally to 82 caps against Greece last month, only Kenny Dalglish (102) and Jim Leighton (91) have accumulated more, while no man has captained the Tartan Army on more occasions.
Scotland spent years attempting to solve the conundrum of how to get both Tierney and Robertson into the same starting lineup, but let’s compare how the pair have performed at their respective Premier League giants.
Appearances
337
135
Goals
11
5
Assists
66
13
Matches missed due to injury
29
65
Trophies
8
3
Appearances
82
49
Goals
4
1
Assists
10
4
Matches missed due to injury
10
35
As the table clearly outlines, Robertson has had a more stellar career to date, both for club and country, with Tierney’s matches missed due to injury statistics startling in comparison.
Back in 2022, Robertson revealed his desire to play for Celtic one day, stating “every time I watch Celtic, I consider it. When you… see a packed Celtic Park, as a fan, you always have that dream”.
So, now 31-years-old, could we see the Scotland skipper bedecked in green and white hoops one day, or does Tierney’s return preclude that from ever happening?
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