The January transfer window officially opens for business on Wednesday and it remains to be seen how busy Celtic will be ahead of the second half of the season.
Brendan Rodgers‘ side are currently 14 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership table, have lost once in six Champions League games, and already won the League Cup.
There is no immediate need for them to rip up their squad and make drastic changes to the group in the winter window, but there could still be some movement.
One player who could be on the chopping block, however, is Scotland international Greg Taylor, after his performance in the cup final clash with Rangers.
Why Celtic should move on from Greg Taylor
Despite scoring in the 3-3 draw, before Celtic won on penalties, the left-back did not enjoy the best afternoon and made a critical error for the first goal in the match, giving the ball away in the build-up to Nedim Bajrami’s strike.
Popular account ‘Everything Celtic’ on X posted that the former Kilmarnock “just secured his departure” as he “hasn’t been good enough for Celtic for a long time” during the match. They also added that they would like to see him moved on in January.
Taylor, 27, has started 12 of the club’s 18 league games so far this season, which does not suggest that Rodgers is looking to immediately ditch him from the club.
However, the Northern Irish boss could finally bin the defender from the squad by securing an in-house deal for Alex Valle to be the long-term first-choice in that position, in a deal similar to the one that secured the services of Jota under Ange Postecoglou.
Celtic signed Jota on loan from Benfica initially, before they landed a permanent deal for £6.5m in the summer of 2022, and then sold him to Al Ittihad for a whopping £25m after two years at Parkhead.
As you can see in the graphic above, his spell in Scotland was incredibly productive at the top end of the pitch, with just shy of 60 goal contributions in 83 matches.
Why Alex Valle could be Jota 2.0
Celtic could ditch Taylor and land Jota 2.0 by swooping to sign Valle on a permanent deal from Barcelona, as he is a young star with huge potential.
At the age of 20, the Spaniard has plenty of time left ahead of him to develop and hone his skills, which means that the Hoops could invest in his talent and provide him with a platform to showcase his ability over the coming years – as they did with Jota.
His performances when given a chance to shine this season have been encouraging and suggest that he is ready to step up and take Taylor’s place long-term, which would then allow Rodgers to finally axe the Scottish defender.
|
24/25 Premiership |
Greg Taylor |
Alex Valle |
|---|---|---|
|
Starts |
12 |
6 |
|
Assists |
4 |
3 |
|
Key passes per game |
1.4 |
1.8 |
|
Pass accuracy |
88% |
88% |
|
Dribbled past per game |
0.5x |
0.4x |
As you can see in the table above, Valle has assisted a goal every other start on average, compared to Taylor’s one in three, and has been dribbled past fewer times per match.
These statistics suggest that the 20-year-old, who was hailed as a “top-notch” defender by former coach Oscar Lopez, has the potential to be an upgrade on the Scotland international, if he can maintain that level of performance over the course of a season.
Therefore, Celtic should look to repeat the trick they played with Jota by securing an in-house deal to sign Valle permanently, as he could be an excellent long-term addition for the Hoops, based on his strong form when called upon this term.
Related
Rodgers could land big Maeda upgrade in Celtic swoop for £5m talent
Celtic could improve the quality of their attack by making this signing in January.
